Seven Savvy Ways to Spot a Work from Home Scam

Scams, scams and more scams. That is the word of the day. They are everywhere, and sadly, it is hard to spot a genuine opportunity from a phoney these days. If you search the Internet for a work at home opportunity, you will soon see that everyone promises the same thing, overnight riches with almost no effort. Sorry folks, but you shouldn’t be surprised to know that cash would not just float into your bank account overnight. The sad reality is that many people fall prey to the scams only to be devastated shortly after.

There are some simple things you can look for while searching for a work at home opportunity. Many supposed opportunities have scam written all over them. Always remember to trust your gut. If you doubt it at all, just don’t do it! If it sounds fishy or too promising, pass it by.

1. Never pay money to someone for a “list” of any sort. 

This is probably the biggest scam of them all. Although there may be useful information in some of them, you might change that to very few of them, they are scams. These lists are nothing special and are just the same information you could find yourself with a little time and effort. Just don’t waste the money. If you want to find legitimate companies, so say for mystery shopping opportunities, do your research and find the association, in this case, the MSPA (Mystery Shopping Providers Association).

2. A legitimate company never charges a “fee” to work for them. 

A company pays you to work; you do not pay to work for them. Keep in mind that there is a difference between telecommute jobs for actual companies and work at home business opportunities. If you are looking into a business opportunity, you will almost always have to buy a “kit” of some sort. This is specifically talking about the “jobs” such as “stuff envelopes from home” and things of that nature.

3. Claims of high pay and easy work have scam written all over it. 

A legitimate employer is never going to promise you riches, nor will they ever tell you your work will be easy or in some cases near non-existent. This comes back to what we have all heard a million times. If it sounds too good, it probably is. Another red flag is the sentence, “No experience necessary.” Again, legitimate companies are not going to advertise like this. If they are flaunting things that just don’t make sense, stay away.

5. If their contact information is unavailable, it’s a scam. 

A legitimate company will almost always give you their street address and phone number. If you click on contact information on a website and you see only an email address and a P.O. Box, don’t waste your time, it’s fraudulent in most cases.

6. Steer clear of an application that asks for too much information. 

A company has no business asking for information such as marital status, how many kids you have, ethnicity or even your age. If they were trying to get this information, you would deem them not legitimate. For one thing, legitimate companies know the law and would not risk a lawsuit to hire you. Furthermore, use common sense. If someone is asking for bank information, social security and credit card information, run. If it is a legitimate employer, they will furnish you with the tax forms you need and only then do you supply the necessary information, which by the way would never involve a credit card number.

7. If the ad targets a particular group of people, don’t bank on it. 

A legitimate employer does not care if you are a mother, college student or if you are on social security benefits. Be very wary of anyone that making an appeal to “moms” or anything of that sort.