Anyone who spends a considerable amount of time online will become increasingly aware of scams. They hit your email inbox, present themselves on your favorite social networking websites, and even knock at your door. Although many people are aware of these scams, surprisingly they are still an epidemic. Here are 8 scams that we think everyone should know about:

---

Great Depression

Mention economic collapse and most people, at least in the United States, will think of the Great Depression. This began in 1929, and continued for about 10 years. In truth, it was probably the Second World War and the spending required in connection with that which finally revived the economy.

Wall Street was full of optimism in 1929, and everyone believed that stock prices could continue to rise forever. People borrowed whatever they could to invest in the stock market, assured that they would make a killing like everyone before them. Investors even borrowed from their brokers against the stock they held to buy more stock. In fact, brokers’ loans were less than $5 million in the middle of 1928, yet rose to $850 million in September 1929 in the mad rush of enthusiasm.

---

1.    Yasuo Hamanaka-aka “Mr. Copper” and “Mr. Five Percent”.  Hamanaka was the primary copper trader for the Sumitomo Corporation in the 1980’s and 90’s. His relentless trading style garnered him the moniker “Mr. Copper”, and his control over approximately 5% of the world’s annual supply of copper led many in the industry to refer to him as “Mr. Five Percent”.

Everything unraveled for Hamanaka when Sumitomo Corporation reported a loss of $1.8 billion dollars on June 13, 1996 due to unauthorized copper trading by Hamanaka on the London Metal Exchange. Later in 1996, Sumitomo stated that the company’s financial losses were even greater, at $2.6 billion dollars.

The shared belief was that Hamanaka could not have been so successful in his copper trading endeavors without receiving inside information or authorization from his superiors at Sumitomo.

Hamanaka was subsequently tried, convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison in 1998.

---