We all know the baddies are out to get us in the physical world.

We lock our houses and cars and worry about the tell-tale circle on our windscreen that shows we own a GPS unit.  We also avoid dark alleys and groups of nefarious teenagers.  If we're smart, we don't go drinking late at night in the clubbing district.

In the physical world, we take martial arts and other self-defence classes in the hope that we might fend off an attacker.  Maybe we will, maybe we won't, but that's not the point – we recognise the danger and attempt to reduce the risk.  Sometimes the attackers are harder to detect - the Bernie Madoffs of the world for instance will ease the money out of your wallet and actually help you to enjoy the experience. 

But I digress.

Allow me to let you in on a secret – although the bruises are smaller, the Internet is MUCH more dangerous than the real world.  And I'm not talking about getting in trouble with your wife for viewing porn (those are big bruises)!

We all know (or do we) that the Nigerian matriarch with $US 28.3M to give away isn't real, neither will we “impress the ladies” with a small weekly payment.

But that is just the tip of the iceberg, as it were.

So, where does the stupidity arise?  Read on…