By CHELYEN DAVIS

The unemployed, the elderly and the broke were the targets of 2010's top business scams, says the Better Business Bureau.

The BBB this week released a list of the top scams that were reported in the past year. Many of them were aimed at people who are out of work and out of money due to the recession.

"Depending on how desperate you are, that's how vulnerable you are," said Tom Gallagher, president of the Better Business Bureau of Central Virginia. "If you're at risk of losing your house or your car or you've got doctor bills that just increases the likelihood of getting scammed. Because you're vulnerable."

Gallagher said job hunter scams--where a company asks for personal info and a fee to consider you for a job--and work from home scams were significant in Central Virginia, as were lottery and sweepstakes scams.

The latter often target senior citizens, he said, in part because they operate through telemarketing or the mail, and seniors are more likely to be at home to get those calls.

"I expect them to increase as the population ages," Gallagher added. "The dynamic of loneliness gets into these things."

Advance fee loans were also a popular scam this year. Those offer loans with no credit check, appealing to people who for whatever reason can't get a loan through regular channels. But once you're "approved" for the loan, they require an upfront "fee"--and then, of course, the loan vanishes.

The BBB said complaints about debt settlement scams rose an estimated 30 percent in 2010. In such scams, the company tells you it can help settle your debts but requires upfront fees and can leave you with even more debt.

Gallagher said the Internet has changed the nature of problems reported to the BBB. It used to be door-to-door salesman and such; now it's things like ID theft.

"Our whole dynamic, our whole consumer thing has changed," he said. "The big issue is Internet, that's where the scams are happening. Nobody's going door-to-door."

Roofing scams did make the BBB's top 10 list, as did timeshare resellers, which jumped about 40 percent.

According to the BBB, timeshare reselling scams target owners of timeshares who are trying to sell their share; companies target them, claiming to have a buyer if the timeshare owner pays an upfront fee, and then the company is never heard from again.

Chelyen Davis: 540/368-5028
Email: cdavis@freelancestar.com