Work at home ads are a common scam. Thousands of ads can be found on bulletin boards, in the classifieds and even on the internet. Almost none of these are legitimate. The ads usually promise high paying “jobs” for minimal time or effort and give a contact address or phone number for more information. In almost every case, they ask for a fee for more information. This can range from five dollars to hundreds. In return, the victims usually receive something requiring you to pay someone else yet again for more information. Some are also pyramid schemes that instruct on how to place work at home ads for money. Most people don’t even make back their initial investment. Of the advertisements that are legitimate, most require extraordinary amounts of time and effort with little pay. It is not uncommon for the company to have a high minimum pay requirement. For example, in order to get a check, you must first accumulate $100 in your account. Most people never reach the minimum balance and never see any money for their effort.
Loss of money and time are not the only possible consequences of work at home scams. You could seriously damage your reputation if you become involved in a pyramid or similar scheme. You could also put yourself at risk for legal action by involving yourself in fraud.
These ads usually prey on the the elderly, the disabled, stay at home mothers and those desperate for extra income. Thousands of people are taken in by these ads every year.

Signs of a Work at Home Scam

The advertisement states you don’t need any experience or special skills:
How many legitimate jobs require no education, experience or special skills? Take a look at the classified in your newspaper. Most require some sort of abilities or credentials. Why would a stay at home job be any different? Jobs require you to do something, and obviously you need to be capable of doing it. You aren’t going to get paid to do nothing. If there were such jobs, they certainly would not be in abundance as these ads usually claim.

You have to pay to get the information:
How many legitimate jobs require you to pay for an inquiry? If they truly needed someone to fill a position, they would not require money in return for information about it. Please keep in mind, even if you don’t have to pay, it may still be a scam. They may be using the ad to gather contact information, such as phone numbers, email and mailing addresses, to sell to other scammers.
They don’t tell you what the job is:
Again, why would they leave this information out of an advertisement? It makes no sense to advertise for a position without saying what it is.

Large amounts of money promised for minimal effort:
Use common sense on this one. How could any company afford to pay you large amounts to do little or nothing? Why would they? No one gives money away. If there were high paying jobs that required little effort, they would be hard to find.

If you have been a victim of a work at home scam, please report it. Save as much information and evidence as you can. Keep the original advertisement you answered along with all correspondence. Keep a record of all phone calls, electronic and mail correspondence as well as any record of payment you may have sent them. Contact your local consumer affairs agencies, your local Better Business Bureau, and your state’s attorney general’s office. If you saw the advertisement in a book, magazine, newspaper or website, contact the administrator and let them know that it is a false advertisement and that you were victimized by it.
Please help stop work at home scams. DON’T answer their ads. As stated above, even if they don’t charge a fee, they may be using the ad to accumulate a mailing list to be sold to other scammers.
If you have been a victim of a work at home scam, please report it. Don’t just write it off as a minor loss. By standing up for your own rights, you may prevent someone else from being scammed in the future.


Links
Work At Home Job Scams

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