I thought it would never happen to me, that I was too smart to be scammed on Internet.

However, I was to exchange USD 50 into an e-Gold account, something which is done by many companies in different ways at different rates. I googled for an exchanger and found click2exchange.net who would transfer cash sent through Western Union to my e-Gold account. It would take about 24 hours and the fee was 1%.

I followed the instructions, and USD 50 was sent. Then I waited. No confirmation email. After 24 hours nothing had happened. One day later still nothing. I wrote to them again, but received no reply. I tracked the order at Western Union and saw that the funds were picked up 2 days after I sent them. Okay, then it might take 24 hours from that point, I thought. But after another 24 hours, still no money, and still no reply from them.

After 5 days, something which I should have taken place before I ever sent the money, I became suspicious and tried to look up some information about the company. Three words came up: Scam, scam and also scam.

There was a description of how they cheat people, and to my mixed embarassment, anger and disbelief, I could see myself in the description as the perfect victim.

I was always careful. I do not know why I did not spend 2 minutes checking the company before I sent the USD 50 to a complete stranger without any guarantee.

Bye bye, you dear 50 bucks...