You're sitting at home watching the tube when a young girl raps on your door. She tells you she's working to raise funds for a church trip by selling magazine subscriptions. Any little bit will help, she tells you. Well you've always considered yourself the charitable type, so you decide to help her and yourself by subscribing to one of your favorite magazines.

She leaves you with a receipt, instructions to cancel and a warm, fuzzy feeling. She may even offer you a sticker for your window so other members from her church group know not to bother you, since you registered already. The scam is, your first issue isn't coming, and neither are all the rest of them.

How to avoid: as much as you want to help someone, never donate or pay for services that you can't verify beforehand. The "con" in con-artists stands for "confidence" and they'll use anything in their power to gain yours. That can include fake receipts, phone numbers and even their own son or daughter.