Friday, June 25, 2010

You're Too Smart for Work from Home Online Scams. Right?


You already know work from home online scams are out there. You know that those ads and listings that catch your attention with promises of making you an overnight millionaire can’t possibly be legitimate. That’s obvious. However, what’s important to understand is that those listings are the work of amateurs. There are scammers out there that are so sophisticated that many times, law enforcement agencies have a hard time keeping up with them. More often than not, it’s not even known which websites are work from home scams until the scammers are long gone with people’s money or sensitive financial information.
While it is true that there are task forces designed to spot and catch those posting work from home online scams, it is often a cat and mouse game as scammers become more and more refined at thwarting the measures of law enforcement agencies. Since work from homes scams tend to stay one step ahead of the law, the best way to make sure you don’t get taken in by bogus work from home opportunities is to get educated on the subject-and stay that way. Remember, the reason these guys don’t get caught is because they consistently change their modus operandi.
Most work from home online scams tend to be successful because they are so elaborate. Not only will they set up an intricate website using names and symbols similar to established and respected companies; they will sometimes even provide an address or a fake 1-800 number manned by a mock customer support specialist. This is because they know that there will be those looking to confirm that they are a legitimate business. If they are able to fool potential victims, it means that they can set up shop just a while longer. If not, they can shut down and start up a whole new scheme within a record period of time.
So how in the world will you ever be able to tell these work from home online scams from legitimate work from home opportunities? Simple. Money will always be of issue. If it is not money, then it will be your personal information such as bank account information or your social security number. Aside from work from home customer service jobs where you may have to buy a special type of headset, a legitimate work from home company does not and will not require you to pay them for the opportunity to work.
Some work from home online scams will ask for your bank account or Social Security number, saying that they are going to send you a payment. Then they say that they overpaid you and that you are to keep part of the payment and send the rest back. The money that they wire or send in a money order is either stolen or fake. This leaves you to pay back the bank and deal with fraud charges.
There are many good work from home companies that are given a bad name thanks to these work from home online scams but with a discerning eye it will be quite easy to keep these types of situations out of your lap.