With the worldwide spread of the Internet, it is much easier nowadays to find talented people in all industries. Unfortunately, scammers are right on the ball in this aspect, too.

It has been reported that several crooks create fake publishing contests, apparently organized by famous companies. One of the examples is a contest for the best article written about the Japanese Tsunami, supposedly organized by Times magazine.

People were encouraged by scammers to write the article and the winner would get a full-time job with Times. After creating a great-looking contest page with the Times’ logo on it, scammers requested every participant to pay a fee to submit their creation.

How to avoid: every time you come across such a thing, research the real company’s website and look for that contest on their own page.