We all do it -- in those moments when we first meet someone, we size them up, profiling them to determine if it's someone we want to know, talk to or trust.

We should do a similar thing when we visit websites, or are put in touch with someone who can "facilitate" something for us, or who can provide funding for our project when other avenues have been unsuccessful.

Knowing key points about distinguishing a credible person or company from a spurious one will help you determine which to trust and whom to avoid, saving you potentially thousands of dollars and your good name.

Many of the same types of scams that use the phone or mail can now be found on the Internet, so be careful with whom you do business in cyberspace.

Over the last five years, the IC3, formerly known as the Internet Fraud Complaint Center (a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center) received an average of nearly 300,000 Internet fraud complaints per year, and over 3.5 million complaints since it's inception.

Even the savviest and most prudent consumer can fall victim to one of the many schemes designed to bilk people out of their money via the Internet.

The Bernie Madoff case alone resulted in losses to investors of over $50 billion, most of whom never complained to a government agency, and new multi-million dollar ponzi schemes continue to emerge.

Thankfully, there are many ways to protect yourself, your money and your reputation.

So we offer you 3 Standard options (plus an "Other" for special quotes):

Silver: Basic company Info (Name, Address, Tel/Fax, Email, Websites) Positive or Negative reports about the company/individual

Gold: same as Silver PLUS available financial reports, business and project history

Platinum: same as Gold PLUS available reports from courts, government agencies etc.