We've all heard the old adage “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” Thanks to a host of genealogy scam artists, some family historians have learned that lesson the hard way. Lured by Web sites and e-mails promising access to millions of genealogical records, they shelled out as much as $6o apiece to discover information they could have gotten for free. A good example is a string of Web sites, including Genealogy Techs <www.genealogytechs.net>, that offer either online subscriptions or CD-ROMs with links to “hundreds of databases.” Buyer beware: There's nothing special about those links — you could find the free databases just as easily by browsing Cyndi's List of genealogy Web sites <www.cyndislist.com> or reading Family Tree Magazine's annual 101 Best Web Sites list. The owner of the scam sites has since been charged with several felonies. And although Genealogy Techs is still online, it no longer accepts payments.