The Complete Guide to Avoiding Online Scams (for Your Less Savvy Friends and Relatives)

The Kijiji.ca forums are constantly buzzing with n00bs warning the regulars about scams that've sucked them out of thousands of dollars. Perhaps you know people like that. You probably have some in your family. So, with that in mind ....

Picked up at Lifehacker.com, it's The Complete Guide to Avoiding Online Scams (for Your Less Savvy Friends and Relatives).

Now, this list does not specifically address the biggest scams on Kijiji. Those'd be the people selling big-ticket items at stupidly low prices from locations you can't get to. They say they're eager to ship it to you, though, so just pay them through Paypal/Western Union/etc. Yeah, be smarter than that.

But this one might save you some grief, too:

Watch Out for Job Postings That Look Too Good

If you're out of work or just looking for a way to make some extra cash on the side, you should be very careful about the jobs posted on online sites like Craigslist, because there are scammers lurking there as well. It's not that Craigslist isn't a great place to look for jobs, but you have to be careful. Those jobs that say you can "Make $25+ / hour working from home!" or "Mystery Shopper Needed!" and promise tons of money for almost no work—yeah, they are completely fake.

The biggest thing to avoid is anything involving Western Union, Moneygram, wire transfers, money orders, or dealings with any financial transaction. The scammers will ask you to deposit a check or money order and wire transfer the money back to them—and it's not until later that you find out it was a forgery. I personally know somebody who was scammed out of $12,000 this way.

Read more at Lifehacker.com.