Con artists. Grifters. Charlatans. Swindlers. Snake oil salesmen. They've always been around.

But computers connected to the World Wide Web have given them expanded access to homes and the ability to steal thousands of dollars from an unsuspecting person on the other side of the globe. Once money leaves the country, it's not coming back, authorities warn.

What starts with an e-mail -- or a letter or phone call -- not infrequently ends with a police report and no money recovered.

"Technology is there to help you, but it can also hurt you," said Capt. Mike Sweeney, of the Salina Police Department. "If anything seems out of the ordinary, check it out."

Sweeney recommended becoming familiar with the types of scams being used. Whether it's an e-mail supposedly from a co-worker who has been robbed in London or notification of millions won in a foreign lottery, you are less likely to fall for it if you are not being taken by surprise, he said.

"The more knowledgeable you make yourself about types of scams being done, the less likely you'll be a victim," he said. "Stay educated."

Scams being reported in Kansas can be found at ksag.org, the website of Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt. Information also can be found at bbb.org, the Better Business Bureau, or aarp.org.

According to the Better Business Bureau's list of the Top 10 scams of 2010, job hunters and people struggling to get out of debt were often targets in last year's down economy. Fake debt-relief services, job-hunting and work-from-home schemes, and timeshare resellers who charge fees and then disappear all made the Top 10.

Some Salinans looking for work found scams instead.

In December, a 52-year-old Salina woman who responded to an online job advertisement ended up being duped out of more than $1,200 when she thought she was being paid to be a secret shopper. The woman was sent a check and told to wire most of the money back to the firm while evaluating the services of Western Union. The check was bogus.

Sweeney said sending worthless checks and asking people to wire much of the money back is a common tactic of the scammer. Local people who are selling things on online auction sites have been duped by this kind of scam as well, he said.

Worthless checks, which are encoded with a stolen or false account number, can take weeks to process through the banking system. By the time the check comes back, the wired money has long since been retrieved, he said.

"Western Union wires can be picked up anywhere in the world," Sweeney said. "Once it's gone, it's gone."

Notification of big lottery winnings should always be viewed with skepticism, said Jeff Wagaman, deputy chief of staff for the Kansas Attorney General's Office.

"Be very skeptical if you get something that says, 'You may have won' or 'You have won,' " he said. "Save yourself a lot of time by being cautious and prudent."

Elderly Salinans have been bilked out of tens of thousands of dollars in recent years in lottery scams, when they are told they must pay fees, taxes or other expenses up front before receiving their winnings, Sweeney said. What may start as an e-mail notification is usually followed up by phone calls from a very convincing conman, he said.

"If you are ever told you've won money but have to pay money in order to receive it, don't believe it," Sweeney said. "There isn't any phantom lottery that just automatically picks you to win millions of dollars."

Wagaman said Kansans sometimes become victims because they don't expect to be lied to.

"Kansans are very giving and supportive individuals, trusting individuals, and sometimes other individuals want to take advantage of their good nature and their good hearts," he said.

According to the 2010 Fiscal Year report of the Kansas Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division, 192 requests for investigation into Internet sales were received. Online services generated 39 complaints, and 34 were received about identity theft.

A type of scam specific to computers is phishing, in which private information is solicited in an e-mail or fake website that is not what it seems. E-mails can claim to be from a reputable bank or online service, but they are really sent by a third party.

This time of year, phony e-mails are sent purporting to be from the Internal Revenue Service seeking private information supposedly for processing of a refund. The IRS does not send unsolicited e-mails.

"There are very savvy computer programs that harvest e-mail accounts, and e-mail addresses are sold," Wagaman said. "Be very cautious about giving out any sensitive personal information -- Social Security number, birth date, credit card numbers, PIN numbers."

David Kreller, president and founder of Document Resources, a secure record storage and professional document destruction business at 119 W. Iron, said information gleaned through phishing or "spoofing," in which traffic to a legitimate website is redirected elsewhere, can be used for identity theft.

Wagaman said that when a scammer gets ahold of a credit card number, he or she will either sell it to someone else or use it online to purchase unlimited goods and services until being stopped or caught.

"I personally have been a victim of credit card theft without ever losing my card," Wagaman said. "Someone stole my number and purchased six laptop computers online."

Wagaman said his account was closed and a new card issued, and now he checks his statements online daily to make sure the charges are legitimate.

Kreller said a new law requires businesses to notify customers within a certain period of time if there has been a security breach that could compromise private information.

Federal privacy laws require medical, banking and other businesses that maintain computer records of private information to have safeguards in place to keep that information secure.

"You can't completely eliminate the possibility, but you can put enough barricades in place that the bad guys will go pick on somebody else," he said.

Low-tech theft

He said sometimes people who are worried about Internet security forget to take simple steps at home. This time of year, tax information or refund checks should not be left sitting for hours in an unsecured mailbox, he said.

Credit card payments should be delivered to the post office or made online, Wagaman said.

Kreller said investigation of crimes such as identity theft often take a back seat to investigation of more violent crimes.

"Police resources are stretched thin, and white-collar crime is going to be pushed to the sideline," he said.

It's a good idea to do what you can to protect yourself, he said. Home-owners can limit their exposure to identity theft by destroying old, unneeded private documents. He said Document Resources will be holding a free shred day April 23 in the parking lot across the street from 1119 W. Iron for household and personal materials.

"The bad guys are out there," he said. "They really are."

n Reporter Erin Mathews can be reached at 822-1415 or by e-mail at emathews@salina.com.