Saturday, June 12, 2010

Busting Online Job Work from Home Scams

It’s unfortunate but online job work from home scams are out there. Even though the internet has been around for twenty years now, there are still people in the world who are naïve or inexperienced enough to believe everything they read on the web. Those that fall for the scams are often those that are looking to make their millions and think they can do it overnight. This is obviously a faulty way of thinking since in all reality we would all be doing it if it were actually possible. Donating hard earned money to something that could have been used for more important things is a lesson that way too many people are still learning the hard way.

The tactics of online job work from home scams range in the many. Most revolve around asking for upfront fees or such things as payment transfer scams whereby an individual gives up their bank account number to receive an upfront payment from an overseas account. The reason many are fooled by this type of scam is that it is very easy to set up a professional looking website complete with familiar logos and names that are stolen or sound very close to legitimate companies. Thanks to these scams, a person can quickly and unwittingly find him or herself caught up in an illegal case of theft and wire fraud while the perpetrator slips off into the night.

Some online job work from home scams do not ask for money upfront. They wait until an individual has done a good amount of work and then never pay or only pay on certain conditions. For example, some scams offer to pay a person for putting up links in forums or other venues. However, what many people miss is that they will only get paid a small amount if someone clicks on that link. In the same token, some scams only pay if a person can get others to sign up for a product or service. One of the worst, outright scams to avoid at all costs is stuffing envelopes.

To avoid online job work from home scams, you must be vigilant and not believe every claim that is made. You will need to do your own research to find out if a company is legitimate or not. The best way to do this is to first see if there is even a contact number so that you can ask for references. Then you must check those references- if they give them to you! Always always read the fine print as well. Many online job scams will try to whip up excitement with promises of obscene wealth to distract from the fact that you may only be paid a few cents for your efforts.

With so many unemployed and facing doubts, it is quite sad that there are those that would even want to exploit it. The only way to make the jobs of scammers harder is to be up on the red flags of bogus online job work from home offers from the very beginning.