All of us know what it's like to invest in a pair of amazing shoes--whether they are a must-have pair of Christian Louboutin's (they're a total splurge, but we'll have them forever and then pass them down to our daughters) or a sexy pair of Giuseppe Zanottis that will turn heads. And, being the bargain-seekers that we pride ourselves on being, we'll go searching for the best deals around before we make that unbelievable purchase.

However, with the rise of many online outlets that offer huge selections of shoes to drool over, the risk of buying shoes from a designer scam Web site is significant. Too many women have been duped into buying a pair of "authentic" designer shoes at discount prices only to find that they aren't authentic at all. To make matters worse, the scam site won't accept a return.

To help you find real designer footwear, one of our favorite Web sites for all things shoe-related, The Shoe Goddess, just launched a scam alert page. The section will caution readers about sites that sell counterfeit goods. "While people know about the counterfeit issue, few realize how prevalent it is in the world of the Internet," says The Shoe Goddess founder, Florence Azria.

In addition to it being a problem because these women lost the money they shelled out for non-returnable counterfeit shoes, the fake shoes that are being sold are often times made in factories with underpaid employees in horrible conditions. This completely takes away from the craft and work that goes into making a high-end pair of shoes, while supporting ill treatment of factory workers!

Ladies, be careful before you spend the money to buy the shoes that you always dreamed of owning. Head over to The Shoe Goddess to see the growing list of scam sites to avoid. And if you've been a victim of a scam site or know of one, don't forget to ask The Shoe Goddess to add them to the list.

--Venus Tsang