In this age of Internet spam, you would think people are wise to the growing number of scams that come their way online. But no.

Believe it or not, the Nigerian money transfer and counterfeit check scheme still makes the Oregon Justice Department’s top-10 list of annual consumer complaints. For the record, 247 such complaints were filed last year with the Consumer Protection Section.

More alarming, however, is the rapid growth of identity theft and the loss of money associated with unauthorized use of financial accounts. According to the state attorney general, identity theft “continues to be the fastest growing crime in the world.”

And in case you don’t think it impacts Oregon all that much, Portland ranks No. 22 nationally among U.S. metro areas for reports of identity theft, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

The Gazette-Times has published several recent stories and a number of “Crime Watch” items about theft of funds from ATM and other accounts among Corvallis residents.

Once again, all of this brings home this lesson: As hard as you work to earn a living, someone — in some cases, someone a long way away — is thinking hard about taking those earnings from you.

Obviously, banks and other financial institutions are working harder to build your trust and guarantee the security of your accounts, but we have to come to terms with the cold fact that we need to be vigilant as well.

According to AARP, most things we can do are pretty simple, including carefully getting rid of papers with personal information (even those tempting credit offers you get almost daily in the mail); reducing the number of cards you own; guarding PINs, Social Security numbers and other information; avoid giving your account numbers over the phone, through the mail, or online unless you can confirm you are dealing with an actual representative of a legitimate business; and securing personal information in your home, especially if you are having work done in your home.

The times they may be changing, but a bit of prevention still goes a long way in heading off trouble. And if something online sounds too good to be true, you’re probably still better off hitting the delete button.