Today we have a Special Issue for you on holiday scams.

The festive season should be a time of celebration -- so you obviously don't want to spoil it by falling victim to holiday scams. Busy, high-spending times are precisely the opportunity crooks look for to try to trick you out of your money or steal your identity.

Many holiday scams are variations of tricks you may encounter at any time of the year. In this issue, we highlight the 7 most common areas where they're likely to strike, with the most frequent trick in each group and a list of other seasonal scams to watch out for. Be sure you don't miss #5, especially "parcel-waiting."

First, we suggest you check out this week's issue of Scamlines -- What's New in Scams?

Next, we recommend you check o

Today we focus on rebate scams. They come in a variety of guises:

Manufacturers and retailers who make it incredibly difficult (or impossible) to claim the refunds they offer.

Phony work-at-home projects labeled "rebate processor."

Con artists who try to fool you into handing over your tax refunds.

We've previously covered tax rebate scams in depth. This week, we look at the first two sorts of tricks and show you how to avoid them.

First, we urge you to take a look at these top articles from our other websites:

Answers to 7 of the Biggest Questions About Food Photography: An Interview With Ron Goldman: Food photography just got easier with Ron Goldman's in-depth interview.

Deconstructing Four Classic Thanksgiving Myths:

Nigerian scams are always in the headlines but by now you'd think we've seen all the tricks these crooks have up their sleeves. Not so. This week, we want to let you know about 3 new twists on well known Nigerian scams.

We also share a personal family scare related to identity theft, and our experience with how identity theft prevention company LifeLock performed in this situation.

Before we begin, we recommend you check out this week's issue of Scamlines -- What's New in Scams?

Next, you may want to spend a moment looking at this week's most popular articles from our other sites:

Answers to 7 of the Biggest Questions About Human Flight Photography (Aviation and Dance): An Interview With Joe McNally -- Get insights into human flight photography from

Today we have another Special Issue for you -- this time on bad economy scams.

Audri was recently interviewed again by Bottom Line on how the scammers and con artists really come out of the woodwork during times of financial difficulties. The article appeared in their November 2008 issue called "A Bad Economy is Good for Scammers -- Watch Out for These Super-Sneaky Cons..."

Bottom Line/Personal is a very good fee-based newsletter that interviews experts on various topics and passes on that information to their subscribers (we've been fans and subscribers for a long time).

We asked for and received permission to share the interview with all of you. Happy reading!

However, we think you'll like visiting this week's issue of Scamlines -- What's New in Sc