Practically every day, the messages find their way into the in-box, typically at least one or two per day—obvious spam scams.

Here's one from Mr. Song Li, the credit officer at the Hang Seng Bank in Hong Kong, saying because you are a highly respected person, he is asking for your assistance in executing a $65.5 million transaction in which you get 30 percent.

Just e-mail Mr. Li your full name, phone number and address.

Then there's always the classic: You're the lucky winner of a $1.35 million prize from the United Kingdom National Lottery.

Just send over your name, address, date of birth and decide if you'd like the money online or via courier delivery. You may even have a package waiting via FedEx—you just have to pay $250 to pick it up.

Then there's the single lady, looking for love and friendship on your Facebook page, and asking you to wire over some money. Or the work-at-home schemes. Or the huge inheritance that's yours to claim, some of which have been coming from the FBI unit in Nigeria.

Here's the deal: Spam scams, which are pretty obvious, will often make their way into your in-box even though you have a filter system set up. Until someone invents the perfect spam filter, this is the unfortunate reality. The best solution? Hit the delete button.

Most e-mail programs also have a “;Junk Mail”; button, but unfortunately, there's always a new one coming in.

You can often tell a spam scam by the e-mail subject line, which is oftentimes blank, labeled important, announces that you have won the lottery or is written in Russian or another language you don't recognize.

More recently there have been Haiti donation scams, like the one from Dr. Susanne Brown, writing from the United Kingdom Red Cross office on behalf of orphans that need your help via a Western Union money transfer.

The Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance recommends that you research charities and relief organizations first at www.bbb.org/charity. The BBB also has a list of national charities that meet its Standards for Charity Accountability at www.bbb.org/charity-reviews/national.

Also, be wary of claims that 100 percent of donations go to assisting relief victims. Credit cards often come with a processing fee, and charities often have fundraising and administrative costs. Find out whether the charity has an on-the-ground presence in Haiti.

Be cautious about giving online, especially in response to spam scams like the one from Dr. Susanne Brown. Do not click on links, nor open attachments from these spam scams.

If you've been a victim of a spam scam, notify the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at www.ic3.gov.

Ho'ala Greevy of Pau Spam has the following advice:

» Get a good spam filter in place, one that constantly monitors the Internet for the latest tactics and spam trends. You also can sign up for a free e-mail account that already has one built in. For personal use, Greevy recommends Google's Gmail, which does a good job of stopping phishing scams from coming through.

» Banks and financial institutions will never send you an e-mail asking you to “;click here to verify your account.”; Delete these e-mails immediately.

» Don't enter online contests that offer free prizes.

» Forwarding a spam scam, even ones you think are funny to pass along as a joke, might not be a good idea. Clicking on links is also a bad idea—it could infect your computer.

» If you respond to a scammer, even out of curiosity or jest, about that $1 million lottery you won, you are signaling that you're a real person, says Greevy. Your e-mail address can then be resold on an “;active premium”; listing, commanding superior prices on the spam market. Scam-baiting is not recommended.

» E-mail lists are actually purchased, harvested from the address books of infected computers or simply culled from crawling the Web. If you can Google your e-mail address, chances are spammers can, too.

» Classic signs of spam scams to watch out for include spelling or grammar errors in the e-mail message body, Web sites with an IP address instead of a name, and e-mails that were both sent “;from”; and “;to”; you. Modern Web browsers such as Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome now display an alert page if you try to visit a fake Web site.

”;Here's the Deal”; helps consumers stretch dollars in these tough economic times. It runs every other Monday. E-mail Nina Wu at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).