WomanWork

Stay At Home Mom Jobs

If you do a Google search on “work from home,” 99.9 percent of results will be someone trying to scam you, according to the Better Business Bureau. Because the internet is impossible to police it is easy for people to advertise false information.

Why do people fall for these scams? Because they may need money and may be desperate for something to work out. The people writing the advertisements know this and they slant the copy to appeal to the emotional distress of the reader. The rule of thumb is, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Here are some of the common scams:

You see a too good to be true story about some stay-at-home mom making $4,000 a week from an at home job. You click on the link and get more details about the story in the form of a “news” website. The story may talk about making money from google adsense or selling products online from a website. The Better Business Bureau said it has received hundreds of complaints from consumers who say they’ve been scammed by Web sites advertising work-from-home opportunities that appear to be affiliated with Google.

After the article, you’ll be offered a free CD-ROM trial to learn how to make the money. If you keep the CD-ROM for more than a few days, you start getting charged — sometimes hundreds of dollars, just to have it in your possession.

Another common one is the Secret Shopper scam. You get a letter or see an ad or e-mail saying you can be a secret shopper, shopping different stores, acquiring different products for a company. You sign up and get a check in the mail from the company. You deposit the check and buy the items. Whatever leftover cash you have, you wire back to the company. The problems is the “company” bounces and you are out the money.

The re-shipper scam is also popular and advertisements frequently appear on Craigslist. You sign up and you receive packages and all you have to do is put new FedEx labels on them. Then you send them out to the addresses indicated. Most reshipping scams promise employees a monthly salary and cash bonuses. But usually communication with the “company” stops just before the first payday, usually about a month after the first package is shipped. Generally the goods you are shipping are purchased with stolen credit cards.

In general watch out for these tactics:

You shouldn’t have to spend money to make money. Don’t pay for information kits, lists or directories or product assembly kits. You can get this information free elsewhere.

Don’t buy into the “secret.” You are usually told a story about someone who made hundreds of thousands with a secret method. Now, they are letting you in on the secret. Who would sell such a lucrative secret? And if they make so much, why do they need money from you?

Don’t believe you’ve been selected for a payment processing position without submitting a resume. Legitimate companies interview potential hires. Most won’t ask for personal information before the interview. If your potential job involves handling money, expect a thorough background check.

Multilevel marketing can be a real business but many scammers just try to recruit new distributors, not sell products. Often, only the victims buy the products. They must sign up others to recover their costs.

All the blogs I surveyed say it is very important to research any opportunity carefully. Always check out what the Better Business Bureau has to say. See if there are any complaints about the company and see what sites the BBB recommends.

If you want to learn about legitimate sites for work at home jobs see our post Are There Work From Home Jobs That are Real and BBB Approved