Do the words "work from home" make you suspicious? They should. While legitimate freelance and telecommuter opportunities are out there, it's a lot easier to find the scammers. Part-time, work-from-home offers should set your spidey-sense tingling. Before you sign up, make sure you know what you're getting into.
A federal investigation recently revealed an international money-laundering scheme that used a work-from-home setup to launder counterfeit traveler's checks. Steve Bryant tells the story (via Techdirt):
Abbie began receiving FedEx packages from Saunders, and her job was to remove the brown envelopes inside and mail them in new FedEx boxes throughout the United States. Abbie also received U.S. Postal Money Orders, and was told to complete the money orders with names and addresses provided by Saunders. Abbie received two packages total, and was paid $100 for the first and $300 for the second.Would it make sense to you to get paid hundreds of dollars to receive and resend checks? You know the rule—if it sounds too good to be true...
In this case, the work-from-home participants weren't victims; they were unwitting participants in a crime, and they got to experience the fun of being caught up in a federal investigation. Other easy-money scams that might come your way target your money:
- Know who you're dealing with. Opportunity doesn't knock anonymously.
- Check up on the company, people, and business before signing up. Search on the company name and the names of any individuals—this includes recruiters. Add scam or fraud as an additional search term to see if the company's name is associated with those terms.
- Understand how the business makes money. Does it make sense? Is it legal? A simple search on envelope stuffing or payment forwarding would give you ample warning. Snopes and Scam.com are also helpful.
- Understand how your contribution is worth your compensation. If you're not doing anything worthwhile, why would they pay you? If the promised compensation is well above the market rate, why would they do that? Refer back to question 3.
- Don't pay for a job—legitimate opportunities don't work that way.
Comments (4)
Yes this is true. Once a person from US was convicted of participating in crime just because she selected to work for a similar case of transferring money from US to another country. Finally she found herself in prison. After that many sites which posts free WAH offers became alert.
Posted by fornls | January 30, 2007 3:15 PM
Don't forget doing surveys and data entry. On Craigslist, there are lot of job postings for data entry. I decided to respond to one. I then received an email. At the bottom of that email was a request to send $5 via PayPal to cover costs. I immediately deleted that email. Job seekers do not have to pay to want to work for any company.
Posted by Nick | January 30, 2007 4:24 PM
Legit work at home jobs required you to send a resume and get an interview. Most required previous customer service experience, an extra line, and a quiet home with no background noise. You will be customer service rep and sales for a company.
Another route you can go is being a virtual assistant and freelance. But that will strictly depend on your skills, and you still have to market yourself and your services.
So there's no way around it. There's no get rich quick schemes, no ground breaking products releases, or easy money to be made with no work or repetitive work like envelope stuffing, home assembly, data entry, and all that nonsense.
If you're looking for a work at home job, guess what? You have to get that job just like a regular job. Just because you're at home or online doesn't make it easier to earn hundreds a week once you say yes and give them your $5-$20 bucks. Research!
Posted by Philena Rush | January 30, 2007 10:56 PM
Nick, they're tempting, aren't they? Glad you recognized the scam before you got to the sending money part...
Philena, that's exactly it. Easy money sounds so nice, but money isn't easy, is it?
Posted by Nathan Gilliatt
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January 31, 2007 10:25 AM