Twelve of the most common scams found in unsolicited commercial email, or spam, have been isolated and categorized by the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC assembled the list after officials waded through a quarter of a million junk emails forwarded by consumers to a dedicated mailbox, uce@ftc.gov. Scams include chain letters, work-at-home and weight loss schemes, offers of something for nothing, guaranteed loans or credit on easy terms and credit repair services. The FTC concluded that spam is annoying, inconvenient and often fraudulent – conclusions which were arrived at by the net-savvy several years ago. Bureau of Consumer Protection director Jodie Bernstein called the list: a tip-off to a rip-off.
