Everyone who is honest wants to see none of the scum on the Internet make any money off of anyone's good name. In a perfect world we would love to see everyone be able to easily identify all of these maggots attempts to rip them off. Whether it's in a get rich quick scheme, an employment opportunity or a simple penny survey site, they attempt to get you one way or another.

Unfortunately it's the society that we live in. These people aren't going away. As we learn their current ways they continue to evolve and find new ways to weasel money from innocent folks. As you can tell, I despise these people. If it weren't for these people, making money on the web would be so much easier for all of us. We wouldn't have to sift through all of the garbage. Just remember that about 75% or higher of what you see that promises you any profit is just that, garbage. Either it's a scam or it's too good to be true, meaning that you wont bring in anywhere near what is promised.

So, what do you do? You see something that looks good to you and you're thinking about giving it a shot. Here are five simple steps..

1) Research, Research, Research: Google any information given about the offer. Start with the company name, the website, company slogans and any individuals associated. You can also add the term "scam?" or "scams" to your search to find any discussions taking place about the company. Focus on real discussions, dismiss those that are advertisers or associates of the company. It will generally be obvious, every company has pros and cons. These advertisers will make it sound like the fountain of youth. If no information can be found, wait until information can be found. Don't "get in on the ground floor." Someone has to be the first to get scammed. If there is no information on a company it means that you are the most vulnerable. They haven't gotten their bad reputation, yet. If it's a respectable opportunity it will still be around next week. Better to be safe than sorry!

2) Use Your Eyes: Look at the website that is offering you a ton of money. Does the website have stock photographs of cash everywhere? What I mean is does everything promote wealth like rich houses, rich cars and money bags? If the business in question is respectable there is no reason for it. Let's be realistic here... You will not become that wealthy online. It isn't something a reputable online business would promote. The same can be said about the URL. If there are any fishy keywords in the URL like wealthy, rich or proven system that's a red flag.

3) Don't Trust What You're Shown: Don't fall for any images claiming sales. I've seen a ton of websites show me pictures of Paypal accounts and thousands of dollars of payments made to that account with the promise that this could be YOUR account. Images are easily manipulated.

4) No High Pressure Sales Tactics: Never, ever give into them, period. You visit a lot of these sites and they have these timers ticking down with sales of today only or the next 20 minutes! Refresh the page and the timer resets. These are tactics that put you on the spot so you don't do your research. Just don't fall for it.

5) Unsolicited E-mails: If you receive any e-mails that you never signed up for just delete them and upgrade your spam filter. Do not ever fill out any offer this way. They did not receive your information in a legitimate way, do you think they're legitimate?

These are five simple rules to help you out. Live by them online and you can keep yourself safe. If we pass these words along we put these people out of business. I'm far from the only one trying to get the word out, there are many of us that want to help to clean up the web and see people succeed. Making money online from home can be safe.