Starting in May, many Americans will be receiving a tax rebate check which is intended to stimulate the US economy. We’ve been thinking of ways to use this tax rebate check to stimulate our own personal business economy, so over the next month, we’ll be running a series on ways to use your tax rebate to start or grow your business. We’ve got ideas of our own, but we’d love to hear how our readers would spend their $600 rebate check to grow their business or get a new venture off the ground.

If you’ve got an idea, or a plan for spending your own rebate check, please send it to us using our contact form. We’ll be using the best responses as a part of our series, and you’ll get the credit and a link back to your site if we use your idea!

Confidence tricks like advance fee fraud, 419 Fraud, Nigerian Email Scam, Spanish Prisoner, etc, etc, have been bilking money out of naive individuals for at least 100 years. Over time, these scams have become increasingly sophisticated, utilizing email to communicate with marks, convincing them that if they deposit a check, and return a portion of the balance to the author of the email, they will be rewarded by being allowed to keep the remaining balance.

Now, a new spin on these scams targets website owners, by asking to buy text or graphical ads. Typically, site owners have been contacted by email, and offered 4 or 5 figure dollar amounts for placing ads on their site. A check is sent, which is “accidentally” written for more than the contracted price, and site owners are asked to send back the balance. Unfortunately, these checks ultimately end up being fake or stolen, and the money eventually ends up being taken back by the bank.

The best way to protect yourself from these types of scams is to avoid doing business with people that contact you via unsolicited email messages. If you’re not sure, it’s probably best to say no. If you’d like to investigate an offer further, contact the company who says they would like to place ads directly, to ask about the validity of the email. If you do end up engaging in a transaction like this for ads, use paypal and avoid checks or wire transfers unless you are dealing with a trusted repeat customer. According to a post I read the other day, waiting until a check has “cleared” will not protect you from being scammed. In the event that stolen checking account information is used, it may be months before the company or individual the info was stolen from realizes what has happened. Once they do, they will report the fraud, and you’ll be out the money.

For many, choosing a domain name is an integral part of starting a new business, even if the actual business won’t be conducted online. All sorts of companies have realized the benefit of having a web presence, and being “findable” on the internet. The problem is that the soaring popularity of the internet has created an extremely high demand for good, easily remembered domain names.

Until recently, I didn’t name a company until I got online and checked for available domain names. The problem is, the last two times I did that, I walked away to mull the options over in my head, and by the time I came back to my computer, the domain names were ALL gone, snatched up and held for ransom by a domain broker. As a matter of fact, just this week I ended up coughing up $500 for a domain name that I lost in this manner.

According to a recent Denver Business Journal article, there have been allegations in the past about a practice called front-running, where someone funnels tips to domain brokers when people search for domain names, allowing brokers to buy the domains and sell them back at a very inflated price. Despite concrete evidence, Network Solutions instituted a policy of placing four day hold on domain names after someone searches for them, to combat front-running. However, new allegations indicate that they may be involved in a form of profiteering by hiking the price during this holding period.

So, what can you do to protect yourself from having your domain names snatched up by a broker or squatter? First off, do your homework before going to a domain registrar. We have gotten into the habit of typing our URL ideas into a browser to see what comes up. If there isn’t a site, we keep the name on our list. Once we’ve got an idea of what domains might be available, we mull them over, and pick our top choices. When we’re ready to buy, we go to a registrar to look up our top choice, and if it’s available, we buy it right then.

If you got other ideas or strategies related to domain name registration, let our readers know by leaving a comment!