Work at home schemes usually promise steady income for minimal labor. Targeted audience are often the sick, disabled, stay at home mommies and daddies and people without a diploma who are looking for a honest way to pay the bills. Work at home scams are on the top list of internet fraud, so beware of "opportunities" you run across. We will analyze and look at the most common work at home scams to make it easier for you to decide if a job you are offered online is for real or only a typical scam.
There are not many real work from home jobs with a decent pay. Most of the times you will find low paying jobs or scams. This article is meant to guide you in the right direction and save you time and money by providing accurate information on work at home jobs. Don't get tempted by make money fast promises as most internet newcomers do. Don't jump right in, educate yourself on your field of interest! Scammers know you want to make money quickly, this is what you want to hear and this is what they will tell you. Don't believe them, stay ahead of the bad guys!
If you're just starting out or looking for a way to work at home it is best to join a group of online job providers and workers. Whether you are looking for writing, graphic design, programing, business consulting or similar jobs it is best to go to freelance sites such as:
At first you need to get established as a legitimate source. This is done by getting a good feedback on projects you are making. Best is to take a few jobs and do them for very low prices. Sure, you may feel that you are selling yourself short but that is not the case. After you complete those jobs you will have some positive ratings. Ratings are big to any buyer. Would you rather buy from someone with 0 feedback or an established worker with 20 positive ratings? The answer should be simple. The buyers don't really care what the past jobs were or what they were worth, they just want to know whether or not they can trust you for quality work. Once you have gained some ratings you can start bidding quite a bit higher and still get the job. Withstand the initial beating and then you can move on to better paying jobs. When you are doing jobs for your employers and they see your work is great, it is then best to contact them through the email or phone directly and discuss your price without third party freelance web sites which take a percentage of your money. The key first is to make yourself available to the market and people to know you. After you gained exposure, do your work directly! If you do a good job, people will come back for more even if your price is increasing. Quality above quantity.
MOST COMMON WORK AT HOME SCAMSChain Letters - You have probably heard or seen this scam at least once since you are online. You receive an email along with a list of people to which you should send the money. Add your name on the bottom of the list and one day after the email goes around the world you will be a millionaire. The list is manipulated and includes only the con artists on the top. It also is illegal, so the only thing you might receive by participating in a chain letter scheme is a group bath with fellow prisoners.
Craft Assembly - Do you want to assemble individual parts to make a finished product? Great! All you have to do is pay a fee up-front for the starter kit with all the parts you need as well as the instructions. Once you finish building you send them back the end product which will not meet their requirements. It does not matter how well and perfect you do! Scammers earn money by selling you the starter kit.
Data Entry, Typing At Home - Companies will require you to send fees in advance for their typing software, or application process.
Email Processing - A modern twist on the envelope stuffing scam. When you pay a fee, you will get the job titled email writer or editor! Of course an imaginary one. In real life when you have a job interview you don't have to pay, why would you do this online? If you were to apply for this scam you could actually really get payments for referring new people to this SCAM. You get Instructions on how to spam and look for new customers to apply as an email processor.
Envelope Stuffing - In many envelope stuffing promotions, a company offers to pay fantastic wages to “stuff envelopes and submit them according to instructions”. After paying for the instructions, participants learn that they must also buy the company’s books on “money-making” plans, and place advertisements at their own expense in newspapers, magazines or on bulletin boards. The advertisements invite persons to send the participant a S.A.S.E. (self addressed stamped envelope) for information on earning money at home. Each envelope received in this manner is then stuffed by the participant with the company’s circular. Once a required number of letters is accumulated, they are sent to the company for payment. Earnings by participants are based entirely on the number of responses they receive to the ads.
Hotline Calls - For more information call our hot line! Even though the line behind you is non-existent, you still will be placed into it while listening to The Entertainer from Scott Joplin. Once you finally reach a "very busy" secretary, you will be told a few lies with sugar on top.
Medical Billing - You pay a high fee to receive the electronics and instructions to process bills for hospitals. Of course all the important facts such as medical clinics process their own bills or give them to established companies are not being mentioned to you. Your software will not meet their requirements and the lists of "potential clients" are outdated or just plain wrong.
Multi Level Marketing And Pyramid Schemes - There sure are legitimate MLM businesses, but the problem in this schemes occurs when the pyramid and the ladder-climbing become more important than selling the actual product or service.
Lists - Lists of companies, supplier, services, people, etc... You pay a fee to get the list, but once you get the list it is either outdated or false.
Reshipping - This is one of the newest scams. Work at home shippers are promised substantial amounts of money. All they have to do is receive, repackage, and then mail merchandise to a foreign address. What the shipper doesn't know is that the merchandise was paid for with stolen credit cards. In effect, the work-at-home shipper becomes part of a fencing operation by receiving and mailing stolen goods.
HOW TO AVOID?Whenever you're asked to pay for the chance at a job or information about work from home jobs, you know it's a scam. However legitimate companies may require start-up costs to cover materials, franchises, or other fees. Look closely and research your business. Check if their web address is a top level domain (www.site.com). Do they have a physical address? If they require fees, what are the fees for? Are they justified? Do they use P.O. Boxes to disguise their real address? What about a telephone number, can you contact them directly? Any missing information should indicate a scam. Many of fraudulent web sites will have big smiling faces or family pictures in home pages. Beware of incredible claims!
Source:
http://www.bustathief.com/2007/08/work-at-home-scam-fake-home-jobs.html
