About a decade ago, online businesses boomed and since then many people who wanted to make some extra buck turned to the internet. Some are legitimate businesses who sell products and skills and some are fraud sites that steal and harass people.

An example of these fraud schemes is the Make Money Fast or MMS schemes. This scheme is very much like chain letters forwarded to people. Make money fast will often claim that it is legal and promises vast sums of money in a short period. It will promise you with too good to be true investment opportunities.

People, especially those who are unlucky are easily deceived into joining this kind of frauds. So why do people believe such things? The only explanation is that they think these schemes are true and that they can afford it.

People tend to think ?what do I have to lose?? and another thing is, almost everyone would love to make easy money.

Make money fast schemes usually come in the form of an email. The contents of the letter states that you should send money to some or all the names on the list then include your own name and send the email to other people.

Here are some basic contents in Make Money Fast emails:

? It will usually start with a greeting from the person who created the letter.

? This scheme will include some testimonials from ?investors? that will say that it made them a millionaire or made their life easier.

? It will include a list of names and addresses.

? It will state that you have to send a specified amount of money (usually a small amount of money) to some or all the people on the list.

? It instructs you to forward the email to as many people as possible and modify the list of names by placing your own name and address at the bottom and removing one at the top.

? It will usually claim that it is legal and will promise you a return on your investment.

There are several variations of this scheme. One common type is that it will instruct you to send money to people as payment for reports.

It will always claim that it is legal and some will include section of the law to confirm the legality, when in fact the very same law will state that it is illegal.

There are also websites that offer these schemes, and often it will look very attractive and legitimate to lure people in investing. It will display pictures of people smiling and will include testimonials. Keep in mind that these are just photos which can be purchased for cents at various graphic sites and also be aware that anyone can make testimonials.

Although some of these websites are legitimate and offer true business opportunities, most are fraudulent. Before you invest, here are some tips on how to distinguish fraudulent sites from legitimate ones.

Fraudulent sites will often offer investment return and big profits that sound too good to be true. An example is that some will offer to convert your $20.00 investment into $50,000.00 in a matter of days and some even millions.

Find out if there is at least a reliable contact address on the website. If it is legitimate, it will include a legitimate phone number and address of the person. Call the phone number and wait for someone to answer to find out if it is in fact legitimate.

Research the website on internet forums to find out if it is a legitimate website or blacklisted. You can also find out if the forums you visited and the website are fraudulent by tracking the IP address. If the IP addresses are the same then it is fraud.

Keep in mind that not all offers on the internet are true. Save yourself from frustration and losing money, and always research before investing in any kind of businesses!