The Nigerian Scam got me - once.

The bidder who won my Minolta Z5 camera offered an extra $60.00 in shipping charges if I would send it directly to an address in Nigeria.

All right, I admit it. Human greed set me up for the next step, which was an authentic-looking E-mail from PayPal. In it, I was told that the purchase price and extra shipping charges had been deducted from the account of Madame X and would be deposited to my account as soon as I supplied a tracking number and other info to prove it was on the way.

I'd never received such an E-mail following a sale before but I'm rather new to Ebay and thought it must have something to do with selling internationally.

You guessed it. As soon as I supplied the tracking number, Madame X abandoned her Ebay membership. Two days later, when I called PayPal to enquire why no funds were yet posted to my account, the first question I was asked was, "Did you send it to Russia or Nigeria?"

Scammers from both countries are apparently having a field day on Ebay.

The customer service rep at PayPal was a bit surprised when I described the merchandise I'd sent. "Usually they go for laptop computers. I wasn't aware they'd moved into digital cameras."

His advice was to use my receipts to stop and reverse the package but several long-distance phone calls to USPS centers and Customs centers netted the information that Customs concerns itself only with incoming packages, not outgoing.

Final score: Nigeria 1, Dasher 0.

Act Two came within a week. This time, someone did a Buy-It-Now on a camera within an hour after I posted it.

"Great!" I thought - and then the E-mail came. Citing her Christian affiliations - a nice touch - the lady had a new gimmick. Rather than have me go to the trouble and expense of shipping it to her nephew - who was studying computer science in (you guessed it!) Nigeria, she would have FedEx pick it up the following morning and ship it at her expense. All I had to do was to have it packed and ready for pickup.

Almost before I digested this (well, choked might be a better word) the spoof PayPal E-mail arrived.

Not as professional-looking as the first, the message was the same: as soon as I provided the tracking number the Christian lady's funds - currently held in escrow - would be deposited to my account.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I very nicely replied to the Christian Lady that the PayPal E-mail was not sufficient authorization for me to release the camera.

No further communication from her,of course, and when I next signed on to Ebay and looked under "Items You've Sold", I was not surprised to see she was no longer a member of Ebay.

So the score this time was:

Nigeria 0, Dasher 0 - a draw, which is the best you can hope for when dealing with thieves and scammers.

On second thought, I may have won that second round by applying the lesson learned in Round One - a lesson I now pass on to other novice Ebayers.

 Our best defense against the birds of prey is to keep one another informed and up-to-date on their methods and ruses - and to remember that their most potent weapon against us is our own avarice.

Lesson learned, lesson taught.