Work-From-Home Scams

Common Work-From-Home Scams

There are many different scams that potential remote workers must sift through. Most work-from-home scams fall into two categories:

1. Potential employees work from home as part of a supposed company that often does menial work like envelope stuffing or assembly. These scams are often built on roping other people into the scam, too.

2. Potential workers start their own business with the help of the scam, only after they buy into or pay money to get “certified” or get the “starter kit.”

While most scams fall into these two categories, individual job listings can mix up the details enough and provide enough convincing information to make them seem like legitimate careers. Read on to learn about some specific examples of common work-from-home scams.

• Medical Billing

  Medical billing is a legitimate career, but it’s never done by an individual remotely. Scammers collect as much as $1000 from targets for software and equipment that they send, but they don’t tell you that clinics outsource their billing to organizations and that the list of clients they give you is likely fake.

• Envelope Stuffing

  All you have to do is send in money and you’ll get envelopes to stuff with flyers about the program (read: scheme) you’re working. The goal is to rope people into sending you $2 in a pre-paid envelope so you can get them to pay up, too.

• Starting an Internet Business

  “No experience necessary! Let our experts show you how! You just have to pay right now!”

  These scams are brutal because they require payment up front, often with a credit card, the information on which they keep and continue to charge. The “expert training” often comes with additional prices and fees. More often than not, the scammers are just looking for lump sums up-front and your credit card information.

• Mystery Shopping

  This one sounds like it could be fun, if only it were real. Some of these scams charge for false certifications. Others ask you to deposit some money and then wire some of it back, which turns into a fake check scam that is difficult to combat.

• Survey Schemes

  Unfortunately, our opinions don’t matter as much as we want them to. Getting paid to fill out surveys is likely a con. Supposedly, the more money you pay in, the more access to surveys you get. Here’s the kicker though, if a company really wanted your opinion, they wouldn’t make you pay to fill out their survey.

  The Better Business Bureau also suggests being aware of fake testimonials.

  “…many of these testimonials are fake. For example, part or all of the following testimonial appeared on six different survey websites.

  ‘I am a first timer to your wonderful website. I must admit that it had kickstarted my interest in earning a second income stream once I saw it. You have definitely opened up a whole new world for me.’

• MLM Marketing

  Some multilevel marketing jobs are legitimate, so this one might be the toughest to differentiate real from fake. The best distinction between the two is that in real MLM businesses, the workers make commission on the sales of their product. It’s important to ask how much money the majority of the entry-level salespersons make, and not to get wrapped up in the amount the high-level people make.

  The Federal Trade Commission notes this important point, “If anyone suggests recruiting is the real way to make money, know this: MLMs that survive on recruiting new participants rather than retail sales are pyramid schemes. Pyramid schemes are illegal, and the vast majority of participants lose money.”