Intro: Part 1 of a 2 Part
tutorial on scams to avoid with Work at Home Jobs. Marsha makes
some very valid points and it is definitely worth reading. I have a list on the right of Work at Home
forums where people share their experiences, please visit them to
check out any job you might be interested in joining.
1. Envelope stuffing
Earn $300-$800 a week and
more!!!! So easy, no experience necessary. However we need to
make sure that only serious workers apply so there will be a
"one-time fee for the enrollment costs are well as material
that we will send you to mail out. Send a SASE to this address
and start earning today!
Does that sound familiar? To
begin with I will tell you that if you see this or anything like
it run a mile away. Do not think that this sounds good and
it’s only a measly $29.99 so I can afford to lose that if
it’s a scam. Just say to yourself, "It is a scam."
Envelope stuffing has been around for decades and while they
have slowly evolved, it is always the same. Just think for a
second, why would any want to pay you $2-$4 to stuff an envelope
and pay you over $500 a month or more, when they can buy
themselves a machine that will stuff the envelopes for them? The
machines are a few hundred dollars. In the long they would
actually save money, by not paying someone else to stuff them.
How the scam works: You see an
ad similar to the one I wrote above. You send in the
"small" fee which can be anywhere from $5 up to $100
or more. You sit at home waiting for your package thinking that
you can put those brochures, pamphlets or postcards. The only
thing your usually getting is a one page instruction telling you
to put the same ad in a newspaper and wait for some sucker to
grab the bait like you did. There are also the one in which you
are told to send $1 to everyone on a list, usually 5 people, put
your name in the first slot and take off the #5 name and send
out these letters to those people. You will then be getting all
these people sending you $1, and before you know it you’ll be
a millionaire. No you won’t, do I have to tell you this is a
scam? A scam that long ago moved onto the internet and is now
usually played with sites such as Paypal, and Stormpay. Same
scam different twist. You just send $1 or more to these 5 or 10
accounts and you will soon have money flooding into your Paypal
account. Scam. This to me is just another for of MLM. Which is
another scam to flush your money down the toilet.
2. Multi-Level Marketing (MLM)
"Lose 40 pounds in less than a month. Feel better with
this miracle juice. Tone up with this miracle cream etc,
etc…..Once you try it, you will love it and even better if you
get others to sign up under you; you can make thousands a
month."
This dear friends is known as Multi-Level Marketing (MLM).
There are so many that I can’t get through even 1% of them.
The usual basis of MLM is you see some product which is often,
not worth the money, untested, unproven that you will get the
results it claims to give you, and most importantly it might be
dangerous. Just think, would you buy a bottle of green juice off
someone on a street corner because they claim it will make you
shed 100 pounds? Now the MLM I will talk about here is the
"product" scam. This one is you are buying a product
or joining up to work for them selling there product. If you buy
the product they will tell you that you can get rich if you get
others to sign up. You will be there sponsor and when they join
to sell you 40% of the product price and if you sign up another
you get 20% of there product price and so on. Or you need to
sign up for the gold or platinum membership and make even more
money, just $199.99 or more and don’t worry you’ll make that
money back in no time. I’ve even seen some so ridiculous due
to the fact that your purchasing all these products to try and
make even more money, not realizing your losing money or at
least no making any, just paying a little less for the less than
worth it so called miracle product. The other part of a product
scam is your not using or even buying it, your trying to make
money solely by getting others to sign up. All those ads you
see? On tv, cheap magazines, free newspapers, email and all over
the web, well those are the people trying to get YOU to sign up
and make them a commission. All you will be doing is trying to
recruit more and more people to sell this product and earn some
money. Some do it, but it’s very difficult and over 90% are
scams.
3. Data entry/Claim Processing/Name Compiler
There are many other names for this. The whole point of it is
to work at home as a typist/data entry worker. These people
usually claim that they have so much work that they need help
and its cheaper to get someone to work from home than to hire
another computer or expand there onsite business. In these scams
there is always a fee for the application which can be
$30-$1000’s. Yes thousands. The companies will claim that to
do there work you need to buy their special software. You
can’t download it or buy it anywhere else, it has to come from
them. And once again you will make back your money in no time.
Yeah, sure you will. Just think of how fast you would make back
that money if you flushed it down the toilet. Unlike some of
these scams there are real work from home jobs for typists. They
usually will not charge you to join. Just think about it. Why
would you pay someone to let you work for them? Think about you
going on a job interview, they tell you that you have the job,
but they just need $300 and then you can start. Most of us would
leave in a hurry. But for some reason reading it on paper seems
to make sense for too many unwitting victims. I personally know
more than 15 companies that hire typists and pay them to
actually type. I filled out some applications and read the
requirements for others. I was disappointed but pleasantly
surprised to learn there were requirements and that I was turned
down for the job. Most legitimate companies need workers who can
type more than 60-80 wpm or even more kps (keys per second). As
well as someone who actually has 2 years or more of experience
usually as a secretary or administrative assistant.
Name compiler is scam #1 all over again. Instead of stuffing
envelopes, you are sent materials, after you pay the fee of
course, which will tell you to post the same ad you responded to
all over the net in hopes of getting others to sign up. Your
just spamming others and that’s it. No companies pay for a
compiler anymore because it can be done electronically now, so
there's no need for a compiler/typist for this sort of job.
The worst is the claim or payment processor. What they will
have you do is not just unethical but it’s usually an illegal
operation they pull innocent people into. Most won’t even know
it until it’s too late. This scam works on many levels. If you
answer the ad through email they can put malware on your
computer steal your identity and sell it on the black market.
You will be lured into thinking you are processing claims for a
legitimate foreign company and will receive %20 or more
commission on each payment processed. You then have to wire the
money from your bank, western union or money gram. You are
actually handling counterfiet money orders and/or check. You
will have a lot to process as they need you to send as many as
possible quickly before the bank or police find out and stop it.
You are working for them, but your actually laundering money and
all you will end up with is being an unwitting victim of a very
big crime. With the criminals overseas you will be left holding
the bag. There was a story about a woman who is facing charges
on a similar scam. The twist? She is the victim. I feel that
since the prosecutors can’t get the real criminals well,
she’s taking the blame. She will more than likely go to jail
because of scam.
4. Work At Home Lists
You only need to think about work at home opportunities and
you will find a whole lot of scams coming up trying to sell you
a list. Don’t do it. There are many places that post
legitimate work at home jobs. Try work at home mom forums.
Introduce yourself, meet people like you, who will be happy to
point you toward the right direction. These lists are usually
crap. You pay and IF they send you anything or send you to
members room, all you will be most likely to find are out of
date or broken links from companies no longer hiring. Everyone
would like to work from home. When there posted in places for
free people rush towards them, so how long do you think it is
before the company has got the people they want and isn’t
looking anymore?
5. Pyramid Schemes
The pyramid scheme or "matrix" is one of the oldest
scams and against the law around most of the WORLD. A new
variation is now on ebay. I’ve seen them all over. You type in
ipod and thousands of listings come up. You will however notice
some selling very cheaply, say $40. When you read up on it, you
are told not to bid but go to this website or email the seller
and find out how to get an ipod or playstation cheap or even
free if you purchase things like mp3’s or ebooks from the
site. You will usually see a list of names on a page. These are
all people like you who have signed up for this "great
deal". You add your name to the list and your on the bottom
of that list. You make purchases and get your name moved up. You
can also move up faster if you recruit other people to sign up
and purchase or sign up others, and on and on it goes. When your
name gets to the top of the list, you usually will get the ipod,
playstation, cellphone or whatever else it is that you signed up
for. Now some do get the item. But this is still a pyramid
scheme and many won’t even get the items they purchased or the
free item they signed up for.
