Anyone coming to the Internet in search of a job or a legitimate opportunity to make money online is at risk of being snared by a scam program. Falling for an online scam can happen to anyone; you don't need to be especially gullible to get taken in by a scam masquerading as a genuine money making opportunity.

The Internet does not come with a map and there are no signposts. You have to learn to find your way around picking up tips where you can. I don't mind admitting to falling for a couple of make money scams when I was searching for work online and it was only through luck that I avoided losing loads of cash. These are my nominations for the seven deadliest make money scams to be found online:

1. Money Doublers

These were all over the Internet a couple of years ago. They disappeared suddenly but are now sneaking back online and some of them are attempting to disguise themselves as home business opportunities. They are definitely not business opportunities unless you want to make it your business to lose money.

2. Chain Emails

These are just the old fashioned chain letters updated to email. The only person who gets anything out of this scam is the person who starts the chain. If you get one of these emails, it will almost certainly contain an assurance that the scheme is perfectly legal. It isn't, and if you take part in one of these scams, you could find yourself being prosecuted for fraud.

3. Get Paid To Autosurf

At one time it was possible to make money from get paid to autosurf programs. The whole get paid to surf industry collapsed suddenly when the owners of a payment processing program (not PayPal, I hasten to add) stole millions of dollars of members' money. Paid surfing was once a low risk way to make money, it is now a high-risk gamble because crooks have moved in; the only winners are the autosurf owners.

4. Email Processing

This is one online money making scam that actually looks like a legitimate way to earn money. The programs require you to place advertisements online. When an enquiry is received, you copy/paste and send information by email. This seemed so innocent that I almost got sucked in. Right at the last minute, I suddenly realised no legitimate company would pay me a good rate to process emails when they could use an autoresponder to do the same job faster and for a fraction of the cost.

5. High Yield Investment Programs (HYIP)

These programs pull in members because they promise huge returns on investments and will accept deposits of very small sums. The explanation of how this can be achieved is that, by pooling all investments, the money can be invested in places that are not accessible to the small investor. Great idea, but there's a snag in that the owners of many of these programs have no intention of investing the money for you, they just take your money and vanish.

6. The Advance Fee Scam

The scam starts with receipt of an email from somebody in another country. The sender will inform you that he is seeking a trustworthy foreign person into whose account he can deposit millions of dollars and will pay you a high percentage of the money in return for use of your bank account. Once they have you hooked, they will tell you that an unexpected expense must be paid to facilitate the transfer of the money and they request an advance payment from you. Needless to say, the only payment changing hands here will be the one you make to them.

7. Any Program Relying On A Matrix

If you see a money making program advertising a matrix and not much else, it is probably a scam. The programs to beware of are the ones where there is no recognisable product involved, unrealistically high returns are promised, little or no effort is required and the matrix is the main feature mentioned. Never mind if they promise the matrix will be compressed, flipped, turned inside out or otherwise manipulated, it will be a scam.

There are legitimate ways to make money online and, as long as you are alert to the existence of scams, you can earn a good living on the Internet without commuting or answering to a boss.