Work From Home Scams - BEWARE

As you continue your search for freelance work or work from home opportunities, you will come across various schemes that do little more than put money in other peoples pockets. 

These scams began life as mass mailers many years ago and now appear in abundance on the Internet. They are to be avoided at all costs.

How To Spot A Work From Home Scam

Luckily the people who set up the scams are not very sophisticated and generally prey on the poorer members of society - those desperate enough to give anything a try.

It's not only on the Internet that you'll see their advertisements, you also see them in free local newspapers, on road signs, in shop windows and in the rear windows of battered old Fords.

The way the majority of these schemes work is to attract you with promises of full time incomes with part time commitment.

You send away for some free information, which arrives with a brief information pack explaining that in order to weed out the time wasters, that you will have to pay a small registration fee - depending on what country you are in, this could be £25, $50 or similar.

Because some people don't consider this a huge amount of money to invest in their futures, they send the money.

Some receive something back - if they are lucky. 

What they receive (if anything) is usually a sheet of paper explaining that if they post similar ads to the one you responded to, others will simply send you cash by mail.

They'll tell you to use Internet newsgroups, shop windows, direct mail (commonly called "address envelopes from home") and just post as many ads as possible.

It doesn't work - disregard these ads.

Also common on the Internet are the get rich quick schemes where you are asked to buy a "killer mini site" from where you can resell somebody else's eBook on how to make a fortune on the Internet.

In all of my time on the Internet, I have never yet met a single person for whom these schemes have worked - and I've posted ads in newsgroups and on web sites asking for evidence of success - NOT ONE POSITIVE REPLY!

In short, ANY company that requires an up-front investment from you in order for you to work should be avoided at all costs.

You should remember at all times that the way commerce works is that employers pay you for the work you do, it's never the other way round.

Motto: If You Have To Pay, Stay Away