Deciding to take the plunge is a big step in one’s life and brides and grooms to be expect their big day to be absolutely perfect. With scammers around every corner preying on those who are looking to save a buck or two in wedding expenses, it pays to be careful when doing your wedding shopping. It’s not a free pass to be a crazy Bridezilla, but it does give you permission to ask questions and be smart.

One scam to avoid involved the prized piece of the day: the dress. This is usually the bride’s most important purchase and will be remembered for the rest of her life. Thus, it should be carefully picked out and examined before making any purchases. When scouting for dresses, looking into stores before going in and picking out a dream dress can save you time, money and a whole lot of headaches in the end.

Some scammers will take advantage of brides to be by claiming to sell designer dresses when in reality they are not authorized to sell the gowns. In this scenario, you will often find the perfect dress, order it and be told to expect a phone call when it arrives in store. However, the date will often be off when involved in a scam and the store will tell the customer that the dress will not be in until just days or weeks before the wedding date. Then, the dress will inevitably be a knock off which is indicated by no tags or an obvious fake tag or the dress will be used. Used dresses can be spotted by looking for make- up stains, underarm stains or dusty bottoms. The store will usually bank on the bride having no back-up plan and having to buy the dress due to being in such a tight time crunch. In some cases, the store will assume that the bride will not look for small stains and will never know the difference. Always check to make sure the store you’ve chosen in reputable and does not have any complaints filed by past customers.

Another scam that should be avoided by those to be wed is the limo scam. Some companies will advertise limo services that they simply do not provide. For example, the limo in the picture or on the website might look new and clean, but an old, dirty limo will show up on your wedding day, ready to whisk you away in a non-air-conditioned, smelly ride. It is always a good plan to look into companies and search for complaints, make sure the business is reputable and definitely go look at the limos provided in person. A real business will have no problem with showing you what limo you should expect on your wedding day. In addition, if you accept a limo that is not what you ordered or expected, you will have no recourse to receive money back and will have to pay for services rendered-whether they were to your standards or not.

Bridal Tips has more about wedding dress scams and other ways brides are swindled.

Wedding service providers deal with bridezillas, crazy in-laws and drunken bridesmaids every weekend and are likely unfazed by most of the commotion that goes along with taking the plunge. Photographers, wedding singers, planners and florist beware; scammers are out to get you this wedding season. With a common scam technique used, these service providers are being tricked out of hard earned money, all in hopes of being booked for a weekend affair.

This scam unfolds as many others have in the past, but have been coming from West Africa scammers who are posing as bride or grooms to be in search of a wedding photographer, coordinator, etc. The scammer will then give fake information as to where and when the wedding will take place and send a cashiers check in an amount well over what the service provider has asked for in advance. Then, the scammer asks that the person deposit the check and send the remaining balance back to them. However, the check is inevitably a fake and the so-called balance will come out of the service provider’s pocket. To make matters worse, they will have booked a fake event, thus missing out on other, more lucrative career opportunities.

Joe Wein has more on wedding photographers getting scammed.

Charities are a good way to give back, especially for those who are too busy to volunteer in their community. However, in some cases there are charities to avoid because much of what is donated will not go to benefit the charity, but to the business affiliated with the charity drive.

Avoid any charities that ask for old cars as a donation. While some charities or volunteer organizations do ask for cars to be donated in order to use them, there are some charity scams out there that will take donated cars and sell them for wholesale prices after a little fix-up. In other cases, cars that are donated will be sold at auctions for more than they are worth and very little of the cash made will go to the charity. If you want to give a car to charity, check out United Way as they will actually put your old car to good use and it will completely benefit those in need,

Another charity scam to avoid entails emails that solicit donations. Any emails that come from charities asking for donations should be carefully checked and you should always route to the official website through a private search on your own. Scammers will often include a web link to a website that seems perfectly alright with a place to donate right at your fingertips. However, these websites are often not real and the donations will go to the scammers. Charities will not send emails in order to get donations, so it is a good rule of thumb to delete any emails that come to your inbox looking for handouts.

You can read more about charity scams at Scam Busters.

There are lots of ways that travel agencies or phony travel package peddlers will try to scam you out of a whole lot of money. With the tips below, there are ways to seek out those scams and avoid them-for good.

One scam directed at those trying to find cheap travel is the offer to make the customer a travel agent. The offer will tell you that if you become a travel agent with their company, you will be able to travel to various places for free or extremely cheap. However, beware that this is usually a scam to get you to buy a kit or program that will “teach” you to become a travel agent. The fees will be high and the so-called training will not help you to become a reputable travel agent. To find out ways to become a legit travel agent check the American Society of Travel Agents.

Another way to avoid a scam is not to make any discount travel plans over the phone completely. If this is the only option to aquire a deal, ask why they only operate over the phone and make sure you get everything in the agreement in writing prior to payment. Most scams will only operate over the phone and will evade your request for a written agreement to avoid complying with the deal in the end.

Also avoid any travel deals that promote “limited time only” arrangements. Often, scams will make the customer pay further than 60 days in advance to the actual travel date. However, many credit card companies won’t allow disputes after 60 days, thus leaving you high and dry when the deal falls through at the last moment.

Finally, avoid making any travel arrangements that leave out important information such as airline, hotel or car rental names. There is no reason to leave this out and should especially be put in writing so that you know what you are paying for. However, if you are using a travel site such as Travelocity, the site won’t tell you the exact names of hotels, airlines and car rentals until they have found the best price, which is acceptable.

To read more about travel scam signs check out Budget Travel.

Many dieters looking to shed a few pounds have heard that it is bad to spike blood sugar levels with sweeteners such as white sugar. However, the sweetener called Agave Nectar, often found in health food stores or in the health food section of a grocery store, is a sweetener that claims not to spike blood sugar levels. This is also appealing to those pre-diabetic patients looking to avoid high glycemic foods and sweeteners.

However, the agave nectar found in stores is not exactly what has been found in central Mexico, as it is fermented differently.

Natural News has more about how agave nectar in our health stores differs from that in Mexico.

Thus, the version sold in health food stores and conning hopeful health conscious people, is actually fairly dangerous. The agave nectar sold is a very high concentrated form of fructose, which has been in the news a great deal as being harmful to our health in large doses. This highly concentrated substance can actually mess with a person’s liver and cause disease in some cases.

This product is being monitored by the FDA, but many stores still carry it unknowingly as the companies selling are beginning to sneak their way into the market once again. To avoid this product, read labels carefully and stick to natural sweeteners such as syrups and fruits.

The Healthy Economist has more about the agave nectar scam and how to avoid it.

Another scam has hit the scene in a big way lately, leaving believers of this scam disappointed and out of money. This scam, which is in no way affiliated with Google itself, has posted job openings in various forms all over the Internet. In fact, the company has even used pictures of so-called “workers” who have signed up and been successful. In one case, the man pictured is jumping through hoops trying to get his picture removed in order to keep his reputation clean.

The job postings tell prospective employees that they can work at home for extreme amounts of money per hour. To make money, all they have to do is purchase a kit which will start them on their way in making money. The kit, which will cost only a small amount of money plus a shipping fee will include a list of people needed to be contacted and asked permission to put their ads on a specific site. Any person can find list on the Internet themselves, for free however, so the kit is worthless. In addition, if you don’t cancel the shipment of extra kits within just days of receipt, you will be charged a large monthly fee for more kits.

Buying a diamond, no matter for what occasion is likely a large purchase that means a lot to the person in pursuit. Therefore, it is important to carefully weight your options before buying a diamond and do your research ahead of time, so as to avoid being scammed.

Jewelers generally know what people are looking for in a diamond and will throw out the 4 C’s definitions at random to make the sale sound legit as well as interesting. However, when it comes to clarity, cut, etc. it pays to be able to spot differences and common sales scams.

The first scam often used is simply switching the diamond at the end of the sale. Because you must have diamonds set in rings, bracelets, or other pieces of jewelry which may take a few weeks, there is ample time for the jeweler to switch the perfectly good one carat diamond that was purchased for a slightly lower quality stone. In this case, it is a good idea to get the certificate up front as well as the measurements and stats of the diamond in writing from the dealer. Getting it appraised right away will also avoid hassle later if the stone was switched.

Next, some dealers will call a diamond “Blue-White” and claim that it is a highly coveted diamond of great quality. In reality, the diamond will not be as clear in some lights and will appear a bit milky.

Another scam that jewelers will use is to only post the total weight of diamonds in the piece of jewelry. For example, if a ring has a large stone in the middle and several smaller diamonds around it, the total weight could be 2 carats. However, the large stone in the middle is worth the most and needs to be appraised separately. Smaller diamonds that add up to a large carat amount are still worth less than a larger, complete diamond. In this case, the jeweler will try to sell the piece for more than it is worth due to the carat total, when in fact it is not worth that much.

Deposit scams are also common when buying a diamond. Since the jeweler knows that you may want to appraise the diamond yourself before buying, they will offer to loan the diamond to you for a deposit while you have it independently appraised. However, in many cases these deposits are non-refundable or will only go towards store credit in the end.

Diamond helpers has more in their article on jewelry scams.

Many people are looking to get rid of their old cars in hopes of finding a shiny, new more fuel efficient model. However, those not careful could be targeted by scammers using a typical scam to incur large payoffs.

The scam unfolds as a pleasant business exchange between two honest people both hoping to benefit. Yet, when the person selling the car (often in terrible shape or several years old) receives a correspondence from an interested party, the scam begins. The person offering to buy the car will often claim to be from another country or representing a client in another country. Therefore, there will be no need to look over the car or ask any questions regarding the exchange. Often times, the person selling will not question the person’s choice not to look the car over in order to get rid of it with no obligation.

Next, the scammer will offer to send a check in the amount for the vehicle after making plans to have the car picked up by a friend or associate. The check will inevitably come in a larger amount than agreed upon, which the buyer will have some kind of excuse for. For instance, they may say that it was a mistake on their part. The buyer will then have you deposit the check in your bank and send the balance to them as soon as possible.

The scam works because the check will be discovered as fake by your bank after you have already paid the large balance out to the so-called buyer. Then, there are either balances to be paid back to the bank for the large checks you wrote to the fake customer or you are just out the amount they claimed to overwrite the check for. If someone seems unavailable to meet in person or sends a check for an extra amount, wait until the check clears at your bank or don’t mess with it at all. You will still have the car in the end, but you’ll also lose a whole lot of cash.

Read more about how people get scammed by used cars.

Internet scammers are all over people these days, but the blog has come around to compound that problem. The Acai Berry Scam is often in conjunction with this scam as well, along with colon cleanse scams.

Many blogs are posting outrageously untrue photos of people who have lost a great amount of weight due to the Acai Berry pills or colon cleanse program. Examining many of these sites will show the same photos which claim to be different people losing different amounts of weight. For example, the same photo could be named Cheryl from Kansas City as well as Darlene from Sacramento. The picture has simply been taken from a legitimate sight and written off as an original. A good rule of thumb is not to trust any photos that don’t show the person’s face.

Another way these blogs lie their way to success is to tell success stories of clients that used a two step process. In this, they claim that they only way to lose the amount of weight that those in the photos have is to purchase both steps-usually a pill and a cleanse. In fact, neither product will work and the seller will make double the money. In addition, if you don’t cancel the subscription or “free trial” as soon as possible after ordering, the company will charge for additional monthly subscriptions.

Truth About Abs has more on the scam of getting a flat stomach with Acai.

Ebay is a new hot spot to swindle consumers out of cash. With so many people turning to Ebay in order to get great deals on electronics such as iPods, scammers have taken note and pounced on the money maker.

Be careful when searching for your new iPod on eBay or even Craigslist, as Matrix scams, a scam very similar to the popular and illegal pyramid scams are on the loose.

In this scam, a simple search for iPod listings on Ebay will turn up great deals such as $30 or $40 for an iPod that would usually cost much more than that, even on Ebay. However, instead of leading the hopeful buyer to a bidding area, as most Ebay sales will, the posting will link the person to another website that claims to give away free iPods with the purchase of a book, CD or some other small purchase.

In reality, this scam works because the consumer believes they will get more than what they thought they would have gotten in the first place, for a lot less. In the beginning, the consumer might even receive their iPod and additional product, but as time goes on, this scam will fail.

Ultimately, the scammer has the person sign up for the product, and then promises the iPod as soon as other people sign up and buy more products. Thus, names are put in a list and shuffled out as they reach the top-where they will actually get the iPod and additional product. However, as there will never be enough people to keep this going, the later consumers are out some money and will never receive their products. They will just be stuck in a long line of people hoping to receive something too good to be true.

Read more about the Ebay Matrix scam from Wired.