The best school in this world is called "Life Experience University, as long as you are a citizen of this world, you are automatically enrolled in this school. On campus you are force to attend lectures even against your wish. It doesn’t matter if you are not interested in learning as long as you are breathing, it’s impossible to escape lectures. No matter how smart or clever you are, you’ll never be smart enough to beat life experiences. The good thing about it all is, you’ll become wiser in dealing and handling issues of life. I recall an experience where I was duped of the sum of £12, an administrative fee to process some huge amount of money that I have won somewhere. I am so happy that this unique experience has thought me how to be smarter than scammers.

I used to believe that in life, it’s possible to become very rich without making much sacrifices, just like playing the lottery doesn’t require much to win millions. Looking back at my experience I concluded that the price I paid is far too small for the lessons learnt. There are many stories about email scam which many people have been victims of because they believe in get rich over night. Many exposed their bank details to fraudsters and they got cleaned out overnight. Who knows may be I would have been one of the victims and live to tell such stories but the lesson I learnt had thought me how to be smarter than scammers.

An envelope came through my post like it usually happens almost every morning, my policy is, I look through them and open the ones that I believe are of utmost importance first. I don't toss envelopes aside because the content might be scary or will probably mess up my day. I believe when there is a problem it's better to diagnose it on time and embark on a solution process straight away rather than believe that the problem will disappear. I am yet to see any problem disappear without confronting it.

After sorting them out by scale of preference, the last one to be open reads, "Dear Mr Lawal, Congratulations, we are please to inform you that you have won Xthousands of dollars in our prize draw". The letter continues, "in order for us to process your cheque, you are required to send in the sum of $30.You could send the amount either by cheque or postal order". A leaflet included had pictures of things I could buy with the money and a sample cheque with my name and the amount was also included in the envelope. I knew immediately that the leaflet is a deliberate act to spark my already running wild imagination.

The letter was tempting, but I don't want to be scammed the second time, I have to be smarter than scammers and so the thought came that if these people are willing to send me xthousands of dollars, well all I need to do is to ask them nicely to subtract the $30 dollars from the money won and send me the balance, I made a promise to myself that I will be very grateful to them. Luckily they had their phone number printed at the bottom of the letter. I made a decision to contact them.

To my amazement, when I called I thought the phone would be out of service, or probably a non existent number. My call was picked by a lady, I told her about the letter and she did check and confirmed that I had indeed won the price. I then presented my idea of deducting the $30 processing fees from the amount won. I tried to convince her that I wouldn't mind. She laughed and replied that the system doesn't operate that way and that was the end. Another scam! I have indeed learnt how to be smarter than scammers.

People are more desperate than ever to create streams of extra income because of the current financial conditions and job losses. Many are exploring different ways of creating extra income; the internet has always served this purpose and will continue to do so. Scammers sees the internet as a more sophisticated tool to operate, many will be victims of internet scams because of desperation and lack of proper education. I’ve had to do a lot of research about internet scams in order to protect myself, and I have made discoveries like “The truth behind online scams and different ways to avoid them. With the right guidance you will be smarter than scammers.