Buyer Beware - Home Business Scams
Now maybe the reason you're interested in setting up a homebusiness is because you've seen an ad somewhere, or you've beenapproached by someone. It was all about a great work-from-homemoney-making opportunity, and you're excited. Finally, you canquit your job!If it Sounds Too Good...This might seem obvious, but it is amazing how many really goodscam artists are able to enlist intelligent people into schemesthat sound too good to pass-up! Be very wary of businesses thatoffer a...
... lot of income in a short period of time with very littlework involved.If you're thinking of working from home by someone else's rules,though, you have to realise that at least 99% of the offers outthere are scams - after all, if it was that easy to pay a fewdollars and make thousands, wouldn't everyone be doing it bynow? Here are the biggest scams out there, how to recognisethem, and better still, how to avoid them.Location, Location, LocationWhere did you see that work from home offer? If you got it inthe post, or by email, or saw it on a poster taped around atelephone pole, then I can guarantee you right now that it's nota legitimate offer. If you saw the ad in a newspaper, in a jobsmagazine or on a jobs website, then it's a little more likely tobe legit - but not much. Always check out any offer, and assumeit's a scam until you have iron-clad proof to the contrary.Envelope StuffingThis is the most established work-from-home scam, and it's beengoing for decades now. Basically, once you pay your money andsign up to work from home, you're sent a set of envelopes andads just like the one you responded to. You might make somemoney if someone responds to your ad, but eventually there justwon't be a market for it any more. Anyway, work from home offerslike this are mostly illegal pyramid schemes.You won't make any money putting letters in envelopes - get overit.Avoid Pyramid SchemesPyramid schemes are illegal in most states and many countries.Basically, a pyramid scheme consists of people recruiting otherpeople to join the pyramid, usually for a fee. Your "pay" isbased not on selling a product, but on recruiting others. Thereare only so many people you can recruit, so these schemes make avery few people some money, but for most people, they never seea cent from a pyramid.Charging for Supplies - Be Wary of Companies Wanting MoneyThe practice of charging for supplies is hard to pin down to anyone scam - it's the way almost all work-at-home scams work(including the envelope stuffing, above). You'll be asked tomake a small 'investment' for whatever materials would be neededto do the work - and then you'll be sent very shoddy materialsthat aren't worth anything like what you paid, and you'll findthat there's no market for the work anyway.If anyone asks for money upfront, run. A real company should bewilling to deduct any 'fees' from your first pay cheque - ifthey won't do that for you, then that's because they don't everplan to pay you.Working for FreeThis variation on the scam is common with crafts. You might beasked to work at home making clothes, ornaments or toys.Everything seems legitimate - you've got the materials withoutpaying out any money, and you're doing the work. Unfortunatelyfor you, when you send the work back, the company will tell youthat it didn't meet their 'quality standards', and will refuseto pay you. Then they'll sell on what you made at a profit, andmove on to the next sucker.Never do craft work from home unless you're selling the itemsyourself. Note that you don't need to be selling to consumers(you could be selling to wholesalers), but you still need to bethe one deciding what you make and getting the money.Home Typing, Medical Billing, and MoreThere are lots of work-from-home scams that involve persuadingyou that some industry has more work than it can handle, and sohas to outsource to people working from home. For example, youmight be told that you'd be typing legal documents, or enteringmedical bills into an electronic database. These scams have onething in common: they all say that all you need is yourcomputer, and they all then go on to say that you need to buysome 'special software'. This software might appear to be from a completely unrelatedcompany, but don't be fooled - the whole reason the'work-from-home' ad was there to begin with was simply ascynical marketing for the software.As you can see, running a 'home business' that just involves'working' for one company is a bad idea. You don't know whoyou're dealing with. Here's the clincher, though: even withentirely legal work-at-home offers that do pay you for yourwork, you still won't make anywhere near as much as you can withyour very own home business. So why bother with them at all?
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