How to Avoid Work at Home Scams

In your search for legitimate work at home jobs, you are faced with an overabundance of choices. How do you avoid the scams? Are there any legitimate online jobs available? What questions should you ask?

First of all, always proceed with caution. Most ads for work at home opportunities omit certain facts, including only the information that will draw your attention to the ad. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Do not fall for the easy money trap. Running a work at home business is similar to any other business. It requires hard work, skill, a good product, perseverance, and knowledge of your business.

Beware of the following common work at home scams:

* ASSEMBLY OR CRAFT WORK: Most of these programs tell you how easy it is to produce goods for a company that promises to buy them from you once you complete them, thus earning you a nice weekly income. They fail to tell you how many hours are required in order to produce those items, how much of your money is required as an investment in supplies, and that you will never be paid because no work ever done by anyone is “up to standard”.

*CHAIN LETTERS: You make copies of a certain letter and send that letter to people whose names and addresses are provided. All you are required to do is send ten dollars for a mailing list and labels. You are then shown a chart to see how you can automatically receive thousands of dollars. The only people who ever make any money from chain letters are the ones who are at the top of the chain who, by the way, are continually changing the names and post office boxes.

*ENVELOPE STUFFING: Ads for envelope stuffing have been around for years in various formats. The basic claim is that for a fee, you will be provided with directions to earn money from home simply by stuffing envelopes. After you make the initial investment, you discover there was never any real employment offer. Instead, you are told how to place ads in newspapers, magazines, online classifieds, etc. The only way for you to earn money is if people respond to your ads.

*MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING: Many illegal pyramid schemes can resemble legitimate MLM programs. Multi-level marketing is a business primarily based on direct sales, not recruiting. The pyramid scheme’s primary goal is to recruit others into the program instead of selling the product. At some point, everything collapses because the market becomes saturated and only a few people at the top have made money.

*MEDICAL BILLING: Ads for medical billing are everywhere. The sales pitch says there is a crisis in the health care industry due to the massive task of processing paper claims. Since only a small fraction of the claims are fulfilled electronically, the opportunities in this area are huge. You are also promised to be provided with clients.

Unfortunately, the reality is that you have to do the selling yourself. Very few people who invest in a medical billing business are able to find clients and generate an income. The competition in this market is brutal and primarily centers on a few large companies.

If you find yourself interested in a home-based opportunity and want to pursue it, acquire as much information as possible about the company. Know who you are dealing with. A legitimate company will have no problem with providing answers to your questions concerning costs, work involved, etc.

Be very clear in your questions regarding the costs involved. Confirm that you are not required to pay for additional fees above and beyond the start-up fee or initial investment. Make sure you know what the refund policy is.

Before making any investments in any companies, insist upon receiving contact information for references. Contact those references and speak to them, preferably in person. Ask them if the company follows through with their claims and if they have any complaints.

It can be very beneficial for you to spend some time researching work at home opportunities. There are many resources available specifically designed to answer your questions regarding online employment.

There are also resources that list legitimate companies that hire people to work from home. A very good source is to search for large company and corporate websites (IBM, Penney’s, Disney, etc.). Whatever store, company or corporation you can think of, they will probably have a website. If they have a website, there will be a link for jobs.

You can also search general employment sites (jobs.com, monster.com, careerbuilder.com, etc.). There are scores of websites for general job searches and there are always some home-based jobs listed.

There are companies that will hire you to split your time between an office and your home. Many major corporations now that offer this kind of flexibility for their employees. You might even be able to convert your present job into a telecommuting one. It never hurts to ask your employer.

Many legitimate home-based opportunities are available, but you must spend some time and effort locating them. Always remember, if you are unsure about an opportunity, ask questions. You will not know if something is a possibility for you unless you get answers to your questions.

If you do invest in a work at home opportunity and discover that it is not legitimate, contact the company and ask for a refund. If they will not honor your request, find out the physical address and contact information of the company. You can then make a complaint with the Better Business Bureau or your local Attorney General’s office. You can also find out if any other complaints have been received for that company.

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If you would like additional information regarding work at home opportunities, learn how to earn a respectable income every month from legitimate online companies. You ARE required to put in some work but there are no hidden fees or investments required and you can start IMMEDIATELY!