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Scams are the bane of the work at home parent's existence. They abound on the Internet and in the world in general. Fortunately, there are some warning signs you should always look out for that will keep you from falling for most of them.
Home Assembly and Crafting
So many people would love to use their crafting skills to earn money at home. Is it possible?Envelope Stuffing
Another of the classic ways people want to earn money at home. You always see the signs for this along the sides of the road. Does it work?Online Surveys
Filling out surveys sounds so easy, and the stories are so promising....Chain Letters and Randomizers
Chain letters long predate the Internet while randomizers are newer. Are they safe to participate in?Mystery Shopping
Earn money while you shop! Sounds like a dream come true.Ad Posting
All you have to do to earn tons of money is post ads on sites! What is the reality?Data Entry
You have great typing skills, so data entry sounds like a great work at home opportunity. How do you know if it's real or a scam?Reshipping
Recieve a package someone else bought, then forward it on. What could possibly be wrong with that? Plenty!Payment Processing
Cash a check or money order while keeping your share. So easy, could it be true?Medical Transcription/Billing/Coding
The demand for help in the medical industry is quite high. Can you really do this from home?Fake Work at Home Job Leads
You find what looks like a great work at home opportunity on a job board. What is it really?Work at Home Job Boards
Pay a fee and you'll get leads on finding legitimate work at home jobs? Hmm....Autosurf
Get paid for surfing websites. Is it legitimate?
Refund Tracers
Help people get their HUD refunds? Sounds great!Internet Marketing Seminars
Pay a fee to attend a seminar to learn how to earn money online. Are internet marketing seminars worth it?Online Business
Is there even such a thing as a legitimate online business?
Multi-Level Marketing
What makes the legitimate opportunities different from the scams?The FTC also offers some excellent advice on selecting a franchise or business opportunity, which applies to both online and offline opportunities.
Watch out if the ad promises hundreds or thousands of dollars with little effort, "guaranteed!" No one can guarantee that any business will succeed, and all businesses require effort and time to make money.
Also beware if no experience is required. While there may be legitimate opportunities out there that do not require experience, it is more likely that they are trying to prey on the inexperienced.
LOOK OUT FOR CAPITALIZATION!!! AND EXCLAMATION POINTS!!! Got your attention there, didn't I? That's their goal too. A scam wants you to get so excited about their opportunity that you don't think. Be too smart to fall for that.
Vague ads where you have no idea what the product or service you will be selling are also trouble. Legitimate companies want you to know what you'll be selling, so you'll be excited about the business and the product. Scams just want you to be excited about the business.
If you feel pressured to make an immediate decision, tell them the answer is 'no.' Once again, a legitimate company wants you to be enthusiastic and happy with your decision. If you're buying a franchise opportunity, make sure they have a money back guarantee.
Check the company out on the Ripoff Report. Businesses can reply to reports here, so you get both sides of the story. See also the BBB's report on work at home scams.
First try to clear it up with the company. If they are uncooperative, let them know that you will be contacting officials about the matter. Then do it.
How Do You Know if that Work at Home Job Offer is Real?
You’re excited. A company has just contacted you with an offer for a work at home job, and you’ve been searching for weeks or even months. Finally all your hard work seems to be paying off.
There’s just one problem. They want you to pay for a background check, and you aren’t quite sure you remember [...]
Let’s Fall for a Work at Home Scam Today!
Please note, this is intended as humor. None of this would be a good idea and could get you into trouble if you tried it.
You’ve been thinking about working at home, haven’t you. You want it all, the money, the house, the car, the free time. All without effort. Well, now is the time!
It’s easy! [...]
Glad To See Google’s Suing Scammers
I’ve posted in the past about the Google Money and related scams. Now I’m reading on Marketing Pilgrim that they’re finally suing the scammers for using the Google name.
It’s a kind of interesting situation since they don’t yet have the names for all of the defendants. That’s one of the challenges of the internet, of [...]
Wow. Blue Hippo Was Worse Than I Thought
I posted last year about some radio ads I was hearing that really pissed me off. They were for a company called Blue Hippo, and they were offering computers to anyone, regardless of credit. All you had to do was make all 13 payments to pay it off to get the computer.
Umm, except they didn’t [...]
Is DataEntryBucks a Scam?
Oh, for life online to be so easy! Earn $200-500 a day doing data entry! It just. sounds. so. easy.
Yeah, I don’t trust it. And I’ll tell you why.
First and foremost, they aren’t offering a data entry job. They’re talking about affiliate marketing. The two are not related. What these guys are really offering is [...]
Google Blog on Google Money Scams
I’ve posted a bit about the Google Money and similar scams. Today I saw that Google has also posted their take on these scams.
It’s some good tips, although as usual the people who most need to read it will probably never see it. But they do go over the legitimate ways you can earn money [...]
So Long Google Money Scam, Hello Twitter Scam!
I posted a while back about the Google Money scams. They’ve been all over the place, heavily advertised through AdWords, presenting itself as fake blogs and fake newspaper stories. Google finally did something about it, at least the parts that go through their site.
They terminated the AdWords accounts of those advertising them.
Not just suspended or [...]
How to Research Online Home Business Opportunities
Researching an online home business is tough these days. It’s not just the ever present scams, it’s detecting them as those who promote them get smarter about how you research opportunities.
The big example is that searching for the opportunity or ebook name plus “scam” is often taken up by people promoting the opportunity. They’ve come [...]
Google Will Pay You How Much Per Hour/Day/Week/Month???
I earn some pretty decent money from home most months (well, except last month, which was pathetic, ouch!). A fair bit of it comes from Google AdSense, which can be a pretty good program or a really lousy earner, depending on a lot of factors. That’s why all these ads proclaiming “Google Pays Me $(large [...]
Work at Home Scam Bingo
The hardest part about looking for a way to work from home is to dodge all the scams. Today I decided to let you have a little fun while doing so.
As you go through the various opportunities, see how many spaces you fill up, just as with regular Bingo.
Zero/No Effort Required
Cash a check/money order and [...]
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