Door-to-door sales can promote home maintenance services, such as pest control, home or garden maintenance, and even utilities like electricity and telephone services. Many legitimate business sell things by going door-to-door, however some scammers also use this approach.

Door-to-door sales are normally uninvited. Sometimes the salesperson just turns up at your door, sometimes they will be in your home because you booked an appointment with their sales organisation after receiving their ad in your letterbox.

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Dating and romance scams try to lower your defences by appealing to your romantic or compassionate side.

Some of these scams work by setting up a dating website where you pay for each email or message you send and receive. The scammer will send a whole series of vague-sounding emails filled with gushing talk of love or desire. The scammer might also send emails filled with details of their home country or town that do not refer to you much at all. These are all attempts to keep you writing back and paying money for use of the scammer’s dating website.

Of course, there are many legitimate dating websites, but scammers can target these too.

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An office supply scam is a scam that involves you receiving and being charged for goods that you did not order. These scams often involve goods or services that you regularly order: paper, printing supplies, maintenance supplies or advertising. You might receive a phone call from someone claiming to be your ‘regular supplier’, telling you that the offer is a ‘special’ or available ‘for a limited time only’. If you agree to buy any of these supplies that are offered to you, they will often be overpriced and bad quality.

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A faxback scam is an unsolicited fax that can offer you anything from amazing diets to fantastic deals, business directory entries and competition entries—all you have to do is send a fax back to a premium rate number (starting with 190). Premium rate faxes can be charged at more than $6.00 per minute. The scammers make sure your fax will take several minutes to get through, resulting in hefty, unnecessary phone bills (a single fax could cost you $20 or $30).

They usually target small business, often with offers of directory entries and catalogues of goods and services.

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