Archive for the ‘Work At Home Scams’ Category

If you are looking for ideas or opportunities to work at home, you need to be aware of scams and stay away from them! There are many different types of scams coming in all shapes and sizes, and often times they are very difficult to spot. Most of them try to target people who are highly vulnerable and desperately need to make money quickly. If you are currently in that position you need to step back a bit before you jump into any opportunity because you are exactly who they prey on. Scam artists want you to believe that you have found the solution to all of your money problems but in reality they are only going to add to the problem.

You can often spot work from home scams by their aggressive hype and unrealistic claims. You are promised the world by a company or an individual who sells the idea of a perfect opportunity to earn insane amounts of money for doing something very simple. It will usually sound too good to be true but be convincing enough for you to fall for it.

One thing that really gets a lot of people is that advertisements for legitimate opportunities also make them sound great. So you need to read all of the details and fine print carefully, then sit back and think about whether or not it sounds realistic. A legit opportunity will make it clear that you will have to do some work for your return and they won’t promise you something for nothing. You should be very suspicious if it claims all you have to do is sit back and watch money roll in. Nothing works that way so they must be hiding something! If it were that easy to make money we would all be rich.

Sometimes you will find that the work promised is more difficult than they led you to believe, or more time consuming, or requires some monetary investment. That isn’t technically a scam by definition, but it is something that you need to be aware of before you start because it is misleading. The opportunity may not really be what is described and therefore it might not be what you are looking for.

Some of the most dangerous scams are the ones that convince you to send large sums of money upfront or give them information about yourself that you shouldn’t be giving away, such as your bank account numbers or social security number. It is VERY important to make sure you do not fall into one of these traps because they can leave you in some major financial troubles, or worse. No legitimate work at home company is going to make you send a large sum of money or really personal information before they will hire you.

Finally, just remember that there’s no such thing as a genuine “get rich quick” opportunity. Trust me, if there was then everyone would know about it by now and we would all be getting rich. But that is economically impossible. It simply cannot happen. Use your better judgment and do your due diligence before getting involved in anything. Don’t fall for hype and promises. Work from home scams can easily make an intelligent person look like a complete fool.

About the author:

Trent Brownrigg is an internet marketing specialist who loves teaching others how to make money online. Contact him if you have any questions or need any help.

By Tammy Embrich

 I do have experience with a few work at home assembly companies, just as many others have. They were learning experiences and ones that will definitely not be forgotten. This article is for individuals that are currently thinking about purchasing home assembly kits. To those, I’m willing to share my inevitable fate.

For the first company I remember sewing Christmas oven mitts. The mitts were green with red poinsettias on the front. Since I had (or thought I had) lots of sewing experience, I thought I had a pretty good shot at making some satisfactory mitts and making some money. I think I mailed in three and each one came back with the bad news of “not passing the company’s inspection.”

For the second company I wrapped ribbon around wooden open hearts. I hot glued three tiny ribbon roses on one corner with a different colored ribbon hanging from the roses. There were one dozen in each kit. I thought they were exceptionally attractive.

I was absolutely blown away when after my second shipment, the company actually accepted the hearts I had made and was paid. I was thrilled, but there was a catch. I was limited to just one shipment of one dozen per month. That sure wasn’t my idea of making money from home.

I think I only sent in one more shipment and I kept the last set of hearts I made. They are green and white and they look elegant hanging from my Christmas tree.

For the third company, I beaded earrings. It took me forever to complete just one pair. The thread easily knotted and needless to say, I was just a tad frustrated. I ended up sending in just two pair and of course, they did not get accepted. Well from that moment on, that was the end of home assembly for me.

I advise anyone thinking of assembling crafts from home for various companies, save your frustration and don’t do it. Your time can be much better spent on searching for legitimate work at home jobs that pay you an honest wage. Or you can of course sell the products yourself for a nice profit.

I’m not saying every home assembly company is a scam. I have not done extensive research about them. But from the ones I’ve dealt with and also heard about from others, I say, “It’s not worth the time.”

The only website I have is for the beaded earrings artisancorpofamerica.com/product.html

Article Written By Tammy Embrich

Tammy offers legitimate and researched work at home companies, free job leads, work at home articles, and more at Work At Home Jobs.

You can also find more work at home articles by Tammy at Work At Home Articles.

By Michael Comeau

There are many people that are having success working from the comfort of their home, but there are also just as many failing miserably. Why is that? Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do you have trouble staying focused on a task without supervision?
2. Do you hate or have a fear of computers?
3. Do you avoid the Internet like the plague?
4. Do you think all online jobs are scams?
5. Do you need a typical work place environment to feel secure?
6. Do you have trouble following instructions?
7. Are you looking for an online job whereby you join, pay a small fee and get paid for simply joining?
8. Are you likely to join the first program you find that offers to pay you a lot of money saving you the up front research work?
9. Are you looking for a get rich scheme, whereby you invest some money and simply wait to get paid your principal plus interest after a period of time with no work?
10. Are you set in your ways and likely to feel uncomfortable trying something new?
11. Are you afraid to try an online program because you have been scammed before?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions than you should not be thinking of joining any work at home or home based businesses. Why? It does not make you a bad person, but you will, in my opinion, more than likely fail miserably.

In addition, I believe you will likely fail if you do not first take the time to understand your work at home profile and match any programs with that profile. Can you save time using a Work at Home Directory like both myself and other offer? Yes, but you still need to do your own research and match any programs with your work at home profile otherwise you will more than likely join a program that does not fit your expectations, skill sets or comfort zone.

The nice part of using a Work at Home Directory website is that they will have filtered out most if not all of the scam artist hopefully. You will be picking from the good pile so to speak.

I think you can be successful, but you have to do your research, work hard, exercise patience and do not allow yourself to be denied. If you happen to join the wrong type of program, stop, find another program that better meets your work at home profile and try again. I will tell you the truth. I was scammed many times, but I kept learning the principles I am telling you here and did not give up. I believe anyone who has had success on the Internet has experienced some failures before they achieved success. In my opinion it will be well worth the effort.

You will know how nice it is when you are excited about waking up so you can check to see how much money you made while you were sleeping. How nice would that be?

Don’t allow yourself to be denied. Please feel free to read both this article or one of my many others by visiting my link in the resource box below. I always enjoy getting emails pertaining to my articles or my site. Your feedback is important to me.

If you did not answer yes to any of the questions below and you are willing to pay the price of being successful then have at it.

About The Author

Michael Comeau has been owner of many successful businesses over the years including his current online business which can be viewed at www.workfromhome4dollars.com/Article-When-to-Avoid-Home-Jobs.php.
You may also find more articles by Michael Comeau at www.workfromhome4dollars.com.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com.

By Tammy Embrich

I’ve been in the work at home industry for nearly ten years and I’m still dismayed at all the work at home job scams that I see. But there is one difference over the years…unfortunately, these scammers have grown much wiser at scamming the average home job seeker. These same desperate searchers keep falling for these scams time and time again and of course, this only sets them up for even MORE fear of being scammed. And sadly, it all makes perfect sense that they end up giving up.

What most people don’t know…there is a solution to this. You can prevent yourself from being the fallen victim of a deceitful Internet scam! The secret is knowing exactly what to look out for when conducting a search for a legitimate work at home job.

Below are the three basic factors to look for in the legitimacy of an online company

1) Does the company provide contact information?

Contact with the employer is the most important. If you’re going to work for an employer, of course you will need to easily communicate with that person. Same as an offline job…you need communication. A legitimate company will always provide a real working phone number and/or a email address.

2) Does the company explain in detail exactly what you will be doing?

If the company is vague about what you will be doing and also states that you will easily earn X amount of dollars in a very short time, then you can bet it’s a scam. If you see this on a company website, don’t read any further…move onto the next job lead.

3) Does the company ask for start up fees or registration fees?

You should never have to pay for a work at home job. A legitimate company will not require start up or registration fees from you. The only fees that may be required from you is from a background check, headset (usually for customer support work), or a foot pedal (for transcription work). Sometimes you will find a company that will pay for all equipment needed to complete the job duties. But, if a company requires fees other than for stated above, then they are a scam. Don’t waste your money and fall for these schemes.

By following the above tips, hopefully your job search will be considerably less difficult and more importantly…you won’t be scammed from your efforts.

One Last Tip: If the job sounds “too good to be true,” than it most likely is.

For example: If the company states you will have guaranteed earnings of $25 per hour or more, I’d be skeptical of such a statement, and I would be sure to contact the employer directly to back this up. Always follow your gut instincts.

Much success to you with your work at home job search!

Article Written By Tammy Embrich

You can find more articles by Tammy by visiting Work At Home Jobs.

Tammy also offers free work at home job leads, free business tips, work at home articles, and more work at home resources at Work At Home Forums.

By: Wendy Betterini

Scammers are getting more creative every day, coming up with new schemes to get your money (or sensitive information). Knowledge is power! By educating yourself on the common scams and keeping aware about new ones, you can stop the scammers in their tracks. Remember, if no one fell for their tactics, they would be out of business! Here are some of the most common scams today:

Stuffing Envelopes – There are no legitimate envelope-stuffing jobs out there. Please don’t fool yourself into believing there are. Companies can very easily purchase a beautiful machine for a few thousand dollars that will not only stuff the envelopes, it will also fold, collate and apply postage to the envelopes. Why would a company pay you thousands of dollars a month to stuff their envelopes? They wouldn’t. If you send in your fee for this scam, you will receive a copy of the same ad you responded to, and you will now have to scam other people by placing the ad and having them send you their money. This is illegal.

Typing and Data Entry – Similar to the scheme above, if you sign up for this and pay your fee, you will receive a copy of the same ad, and have to place ads to get other people to send you their money. You earn $20 per “application processed” because you are charging people $20 to get the information. Again, illegal. There are some legitimate companies that will hire you to do typing and data entry (such as transcription or coding) — but they won’t charge you a fee to work for them. If a fee is being charged, it’s a scam.

Craft Assembly – Most of these opportunities are scams because they make their money by the start-up fees you pay. When you receive your kit, you will assemble dozens of earrings, potholders, magnets (or whatever), send them in for payment, and they will not pass inspection. You can try to fix them as many times as you like, they still won’t be accepted. The company doesn’t want the items you assembled, they want your money for the start-up kit. There are a few legitimate companies out there, however. Disciple’s Cross and New England Crafters are two we’ve found so far. We are researching others.

Medical Billing – There are companies that will train you to become a Medical Biller from home, as long as you purchase the Medical Billing software for your computer from them. (Usually costs a few hundred dollars at least) What they don’t tell you is that YOU will be responsible for finding your own clients (Doctors/Dentists). This can be incredibly difficult to do, since most medical professionals already use a billing service, or do their own billing in the office. With the new Privacy laws, medical professionals need to be extremely careful with patient records, and most will not want to trust someone with no billing experience to handle the office billing at home.

Payment Associate/Specialist – A company wants to hire you to place auctions on eBay and accept customer payments using your own accounts). You get to keep a portion of the money, and send the rest to the company. The company is supposed to ship the product to the customer, but they don’t. (or they ship stolen goods) You are now in big trouble with eBay and Paypal for fraud. Don’t do it! Don’t ever use your own accounts for anything other than your own business. Companies should be able to set up their own accounts just as easily as you did for yourself.

Pyramid Schemes – A pyramid scheme is when money changes hands but there is no product or service being sold. “Joe” charges you $200 to join the scheme, and then you in turn need to charge others $200 to join, and they charge others, etc. This is illegal. Remember, there must be a product or service being sold.

Gifting Programs – This is also an illegal pyramid scheme, but they call it a “gifting program” — in other words, you “gift” Joe $200, and then you need to find others who will “gift” you $200, and so on. Illegal.

Chain Letters – These have been around for years! They used to come by postal mail, but now they also arrive via email. There are usually 5 names on the list, you need to move each name up a spot, removing the top name, and place your name at the bottom, and then send $5 to each name on the list and send it out to everyone you know. Highly illegal. There is also a version for online payment services like Paypal, you send $2 or $5 (the amount varies) to the people on the list, and others are supposed to do the same for you. Don’t get caught up in something like this, it can ruin your life.

Surveys & Mystery Shopping – While not all survey and mystery shopping companies are scams, there are quite a few that love to charge you a membership fee, claiming you can earn hundreds of dollars a day. When you sign up, you find more companies that want to charge you a fee to join, and companies that will pay you very little for your time and energy. There are some legitimate companies out there, and you don’t have to pay to find them. Also be aware that you probably won’t get rich from doing surveys and mystery shopping, but it can certainly bring in some decent pocket money.

These next few aren’t necessarily work at home schemes, but they bear mentioning because they’re so popular:

Bulk email – Usually these offers are sent by email, but you’ll see ads like this around the internet also. You can purchase tons of email addresses for a low fee. If you have a home business and you’re trying to get customers or subscribers to your mailing list, sounds like a great deal, right? Don’t do it. Most (if not all) of those addresses have been harvested by spambots. If you send out a mailing to them, you will likely be reported for spam. You can lose your internet service provider, your business, and even have to pay a huge fine for spamming. Not worth it!

Phishing – You get an urgent email from Paypal, eBay or even your bank stating that your account is in jeopardy and you need to update your account info immediately! You click on the link and go to a page that looks legitimate enough, but it’s actually a fake page. If you enter your login and password information, the scammer can now access your accounts. Don’t ever click on a link in an email like this. Open a new browser window and type the company website address yourself. Your account should show whether there is a problem or not. (Most companies would have a big notice in there if you need to update something.) These companies usually have a spoof email address you can send these “phishing” emails to. For example, spoof@paypal.com, or spoof@ebay.com. Simply forward the email with full headers to them. They will investigate and stop the scammer if they can.

Free merchandise – Have you gotten the emails claiming you can earn a free computer, phone card or other merchandise? What usually happens is you would have to pay a membership fee, and then get a certain number of other people to join and pay the membership fee also. Unfortunately, there is usually some little clause you weren’t aware of, and you never do get your free stuff. It’s a waste of time and money.

Nigerian scams – You get a long letter from someone claiming to be the son or daughter of someone important, and they need to have you deposit a huge sum of money into your own bank account, and then wire most of it to them by Western Union. You get to keep a nice chunk of the money for your troubles. The problem is that the check is fake, and takes a few days or even weeks to bounce, and you now owe that money back to the bank. Unfortunately, you don’t have it anymore, you wired most of it out to those people! Another Nigerian scam targets business owners. You receive a large order at your website, or they email to ask if they can order a large amount of goods, and they ask if you accept credit cards. Do not fall for this, the credit cards are stolen and if you ship the goods, you will be out the money AND the goods.

In closing, remember that scammers are after only two things: your money, or your sensitive information. If you refuse to give either willingly, you put them right out of business. For more information on common scams, do an internet search on the FTC Dirty Dozen.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleJoe.com

Wendy Betterini is a freelance writer, web designer and owner of www.CreativeWorkAtHome.com, a resource center for home business owners and telecommuters. Visit today for information on how to make your work at home experience successful.