There are countless numbers of "scams" being worked today by people intent on stealing your money, property, and even your identity. The best scams often are made to seem credible by attempts to establish credibility with you or by presenting an offer that seems to good to be true. Before falling victim to one of these (sometimes) clever scams, you should know that there is a reliable resource available for you to check on the bona fides of scams and the frequent warnings about such scams that you may receive from well-meaning acquaintances.

That resource is Snopes.com, a web site that keeps watch on the worldwide web and investigates and reports on scams—real and imaginary.

For example, an old story that has recently reappeared on the e-mail circuit tells of the phone call from a "telephone repairman" who needs your assistance in fixing a problem. All you have to do is press 9-0-# and hang up. The story is that this is a scam that is used to gain access to your telephone (even your cell phone) for the purpose of making unlimited long-distance calls that will be charged to your account. Most often, the fable says the perpetrators are prison inmates.

Sounds diabolical, doesn't it? While there is a seed of truth here, the fact is that this scam does not affect residential or cell phones, and only certain older business phones. To read Scopes report on this and a whole series of other scams and urban legends, click Snopes.com.