17 Feb 09 Tips for Spotting Work at Home Scams

Work at home scams are all over the Internet.  With the demand of work at home jobs rising, so is the amount of scams being offered!  If you know anything about the Internet or even professional business etiquette, then most work at home scams are easy to spot.  But some are very clever and are more misleading than others.  Here are some easy tips on how you can spot a work at home scam:

• If the advertisement for the work at home job states that you can make easy, quick money, then it is most likely a scam.  Like any job, a work at home job is going to take effort and time that you have to put into it to make any kind of reasonable profit from it.  Be very wary of any job that says that you can make thousands of dollars the first day on the job.  This is just not reasonable at all.
• Do you do your research on any work at home company that you come across?  Simply type their name into the Google search engine and explore the first couple pages of results to see what you get.  You may get the company’s actual website (which will help you learn more about them) and you may get results for reviews on the company or forum posts from people who have worked for the company.  Look over everything that you find very carefully before you proceed to apply for the job with the company.
• Never send a company any money before you start a job with them.  Any legitimate company will have enough funds to cover any fees that they may encounter due to your job application.  So if a job offer requires that you pay first, it is a huge sign that they will take your money and never be heard from again.
• Be really cautious about any emails that you get that are unsolicited.  It is almost always a scam or they are asking for money.  Unless the email states that they got your name off a resume builder site or from a client reference, the best advice is to just delete the email.
• If the job posting has bad grammar or is really vague, it could be a scam.  Most professional companies will take the time to make sure that their job advertisement is written with proper grammar and that it looks professional.  They don’t want to come across looking unintelligent so that people are scared away from applying with them.  Bad grammar and very vague job postings are another big sign that it may be a work at home scam.
• Never wire transfer any money to a potential employer (or anybody else for that matter).  The work at home jobs that claim that all you have do to is wire transfer money to someone and in return that you will get a check in the mail are complete hoaxes!  They will take your money that you transferred and you will be left standing there with no job or money.

If you do find a work at home job that you like and want to take with a company, ask them for references if you are still unsure.  Any legitimate company will give you references for you to look at.  If you have any qualms about a work at home job, its better just not to pursue it, as most of the time a person’s intuition is correct.

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