It is never fun watching scammers prey on the innocent, particularly through the use of technology. And with gas prices causing a pinch for those who can least afford it, you could expect someone (and I don’t mean the oil companies) is going to take advantage of the situation.

Shane Keats of McAfee Site Advisor noted that a lot of these “free gas” sites you might have noticed popping up across the net are really just scams - they are drawing you in to PAY for the CHANCE to win a “free gas card,” are going to pitch unrelated products, or they are just looking for your email address. Better than 25% of search results for “free gas” came up red according to the SiteAdvisor rating systems. Better than half of paid listings fared the same (which means there is a lot of money involved, if the scammers are willing to pay for ads).

Beware.