You're smart, you think you're good at reading people and you know those claims promising "great, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities" are pure bunk.

But that doesn't mean you're safe from scams. "Smart people never think it's going to happen to them. They think only the greedy, gullible or brain-dead would get scammed," said Dennis M. Marlock, a retired police officer and author of "How to Become a Professional Con Artist."

Sophisticated con artists can snare intelligent consumers because they are masters of human nature, can size up their prey and will say what you want to hear and make it highly believable, Marlock noted. And that's if they deal with you personally. Some scams are IQ-proof because the con artists work remotely.

Here are just a few scams that have taken in the smart and the not-so-smart alike.

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