Scammers are everywhere you look. Their websites offer to tell you how to make money, how to earn a fortune through affiliate marketing. And yet many people seem unclear on what scams really are.

I've heard it argued that if you're provided with an e-book, it's not a scam. It doesn't matter how good the e-book is. It you've been given a product in return for your money, it's not a scam.

I disagree. I believe that a scam is, quite simply, an attempt to get someone to pay money by being in some way dishonest. This can involve a great range of things, but when it comes to affiliate marketing I have divided into three main categories. I outline them below.

The first is the most obvious: when someone lies about what you will receive for your money. They might claim to give away a free website, only for none to appear when you've given up your money. It might be bonus e-books, or a video course that you never get to watch.

Whatever it is, it's clearly dishonest. This is the easiest type of scammer to catch. By lying about what they offer, they are breaking the law, and there are many genuine affiliate marketers out there – including myself – that wouldn't hesitate to report them.

Sometimes, they are a bit more subtle. For example, claiming that with the information they give you can start making money in minutes without doing any work at all. If anyone has ever found a program that can really tell you how to do this, please send it to me! Claims like this are clearly impossible, and yet are often written in such a way that they seem completely convincing – and can lead to thousands of people giving their money away.

A second type of scam can also be easily caught. Some scammers, rather than writing their own material, simply sell other peoples. I have seen e-books sold that are nothing more than collections of articles taken off free article directories. The information might be useful – but this is also illegal. It is plagiarism, plain and simple.

That's not the only way it can be done. A scammer might find an e-book written by a genuine affiliate marketer and edit out the author information. They then insert their own name in place of the real author's. Again, the information might be good. Again, this is illegal: plagiarism.

A third type is more subtle, and therefore easier to get away with. Many scammers will quite simply sell information that is either useless, inaccurate, or available elsewhere for free.

One of the difficult points if that they might not be aware that they are, in effect, scamming people. They might genuinely believe that the information they are offering is helpful. It could just be that they are a very poor writer, or that they are unable to explain what they mean clearly enough to help others. They could have the best intentions in the world, but if they are asking for money for information that is worthless, they are scamming you. After all, it is their responsibility to make sure their product is good enough.

They might also take amusement from the idea of selling inaccurate information. Sad as it is, some people are like they: they enjoy the idea of hurting or annoying other people. They ask for money, and give information they know is bogus. The result is that people who try to follow it could end up losing even more.

Or there could be another, more innocent reason. They might have decided that selling an e-book on affiliate marketing would be a great way of making money – without actually knowing anything about affiliate marketing. They therefore write the best e-book they can, but because of their lack of any practical experience it is useless.

Finally, there are those who try to make money by selling information you could get for free elsewhere. I saw an excellent example of this just a few days ago: a site offering to sell you a list of legitimate affiliate marketing opportunities! No doubt, after you buy it you are presented with a list of affiliate links to make him even more money with. There are plenty of websites that review genuine affiliate marketing programs, and they do it for free. The same goes for other types of information. If someone thinks they can convince you to buy something, they will – many people are too lazy to pause and search to see if they can find it free elsewhere.

Scammers need to be stopped. They are making money through illegal and dishonest methods that hurt the entire affiliate marketing community. The best way to get rid of them is to hit them where it hurts: their wallets. Before you buy, always make sure a site is genuine. Don't be their next victim.