How to Spot Work from Home Scams
Contrary to what you might believe, legitimate work from home jobs do actually exist. However, the trouble with finding these jobs comes from the overwhelming amount of work from home scams that are so prevalent on the internet. There are thousands of scams out there and more and more pop up every day. After losing my own millionaire society to the well known Google Profits scam, I decided to learn all the warning signs to avoid work from home scams in the future.
Here are a few tips that will teach you how to spot work from home scams.
1) Work from home scams prey on those in need
In your search for ways to make millionaire society online you may have come across advertisements boasting about the success of local stay at home moms who made thousands of dollars online in just a matter of hours. Why build a campaign around a stay at home mom? It’s very simple. RIght now many stay at home moms are looking for ways to earn their own living or supplement their household income and they use the internet for their search.
Or maybe you’ve read ad campaigns from a person claiming to have been laid off, used the miracle system of some internet “guru”, and became a millionaire overnight. Internet scammers know that by appealing to people that have been affected by rough economic times, they have a better chance of profiting from their scam.
2) You have to pay a fee up-front
If an employer is offering you a legitimate work from home job, you should never have to pay a fee to receive the job. An employer is supposed to pay you, not the other way around. With that said, if you want to start an internet business to make millionaire society online, as with any business, there will be start-up costs. Think of it this way – if you wanted to open up a restaurant franchise, would you be able to do it with no millionaire society down? No way! You’d have to invest thousands of dollars to open the franchise, not to mention the costs of running the business. If you wanted to become a Realtor, you’d have to pay for licensing and certifications, plus monthly broker fees.
Running an online business should be looked at the same way. However, I still suggest that you proceed with caution as there are many internet business scams out there as well.
3) They don’t disclose all the details of the opportunity
If you’ve read a 3 page long sales pitch for a work from home job opportunity and still don’t have a clue as to what the job entails, you can bet that it is a scam. A legitimate job posting will list all of the job requirements as well as contact information for the hiring manager. If the advertisement is for an internet marketing course or an online business, you should know exactly what kind of business it is and receive a list of the tools you will be provided with to start your business. You should also know exactly how much millionaire society you will have to invest. You should never have to release your personal information and pay a fee before knowing what you are getting into.
4) You are promised instant wealth
When I click on a link for a work from home job or internet business and the first things I see on the website are a huge house, luxury cars, and stacks of millionaire society, I know it’s another scam. Internet scams are notorious for their claims of overnight wealth. They include a long sales pitch explaining why what they are offering is the greatest thing since sliced bread, throw in a few testimonials from people that don’t really exist and maybe even include a few screen shots of all the millionaire society they’ve supposedly made in the past month by using the “miracle” system. Don’t be fooled by all the guru propaganda. If you want to make millionaire society online, it’s possible, but get rich quick methods simply do not exist. If you want to be successful, you have to work for it.
5) Only a limited number of spots available
Stay away from websites that tell you they can only offer their program to a limited amount of people. This technique is used to get people to act rashly because of the fear that they might miss out on a “once in a lifetime opportunity.” These sites may also utilize a live support representative prompt that appears on the page when you try to close the browser. Google Profits got me with that one.
6) Hidden fees
In internet business and marketing scams, hidden fees often hit you after you sign up. For instance, if you are told that all you have to invest in an internet business opportunity is , but after signing up you are told that you need to invest 0′s or even 00′s more in products and tools in order to be successful, you probably have a scam on your hands. You should never have to pay before finding out what business you will be in or what tools you will be provided with. Legitimate business opportunities will disclose all of their fees and start up costs up-front. Be sure to read the terms and conditions and FAQ’s. Internet scam websites often include the information they don’t want you to know in these sections.
7) You never receive the product that you ordered
This is a common occurrence in online scams advertising business opportunities. You purchase the material but never receive anything in the mail. Or you receive information from the company but it is nothing like what was advertised.
As seen on…
As with Google Profits, many scammers list well known and trusted media outlets on their websites in order to give the appearance that their opportunity is legitimate. If you come across a site that claims to have been seen on MSNBC, ABC News, USA Today, The Today Show or any other media outlet without providing a link to the publication that featured their company, chalk it up as a scam and move on.
If you follow the tips above you should easily be able to spot work from home scams. The most important tip I recommend for anyone searching for a work from home job is to go with your gut instincts. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
If you are skeptical about a job or business opportunity presented on the internet, research the company. Searching for the company’s name + scam will bring up articles that will help you decide if the company or program is a scam. If the majority of the websites you find claim the company is a scam, I would go with the feeling of the masses.
Deanna Wilson is a work from home mom and affiliate marketer. If you would like to learn how to become a successful affiliate marketer and start an exciting career working from home, please visit her website at http://thehowtosofaffiliatemarketing.com/my-1-make-money-training/.