E-mail scams are typically low value, high volume crimes where the cost to a given consumer is comparatively low, but large numbers of victims mean that the money quickly adds up for the criminals behind the scam.

One of the places consumers trip up relates to the relevancy of the scam's topic. E-mail scammers are smart about making their scam look current because people are much more likely to fall for a scam related to a topic already on their mind.

For example, Valentine scams circulate around Valentines Day. Last year it was the Valentine's Day Virus that posed as a romantic message. This year it was a Valentine Trojan horse which emailed messages with titles like "In your arms," "Sending you all my love,” “I love you because…”, etc. (Note! The titles morph constantly; there were at least 50 titles in circulation this year.) These have a short message and a link to click. Clicking the link downloads malicious software onto your computer.

Also around any holiday be on the lookout for e-mail messages offering "great deals" on flowers, chocolates, dinners, and so on. If are not certain that a store is reputable, don't go there.

Now that we're fully into tax season, tax-related scams abound including scams about being audited, getting tax rebates, or tax filing assistance.

But no matter the time of year, always follow some basic e-mail safety guidelines:

• Set your e-mail filter settings to high, or use a service like spamarrest that will screen your e-mail.
• Make sure you have installed a firewall and that you're using up-to-date antivirus and antispyware software on your computer at all times.
• Get some pointers on spotting scams and check sites like snopes.com to determine if the e-mail is a fraud.
• Be cautious about clicking links in e-mail messages. Even if you know the store, don't click the link in the e-mail in case it directs you to a very good fake. It's safer to type in the Web address yourself or use your own bookmark.
• Respect other's privacy by placing their e-mail aliases on the Bcc: line when you send e-mail  to people who don't know each other. Ask others to do the same for you. (Find out how to use the BCC line.)

If no one fell for e-mail scams, criminals wouldn't make money and would quit sending them. Help put spammers out of business.

Linda