SCAMdar Alert: Work At Home Jobs

With the seemingly endless stream of economic bad news it is natural for people to be afraid.  It’s also natural for people to turn to the Internet in hopes of finding  work at home jobs that can bolster their income, or in some cases replace a lost income.  Fear is natural, but you shouldn’t let fear drive you into making a bad situation even worst.  Websites offering work-at-home jobs are some biggest scams on the Internet. And in the current environment you can bet that these types of sites will only increase.  Here are a few ways to use your Scam-dar to avoid these crooks.

‘We only require a small fee for the privilege of working for us.’

Legitimate jobs don’t require you to pay upfront to work with them.  Take mystery shopping. Typically, scammers will advertise an opportunity to become a mystery shopper.  But when you apply you’re asked to paid for something like an info packet or a list of employers in your area supposedly looking for mystery shoppers.

‘Dude, I’m making a fortune stuffing envelopes while I watch TV.’

If it was this easy we would all be rich couch potatoes! Be wary of any job claiming to pay big money for menial tasks.   In fact, just avoid them altogether.  No legit operation is going to pay you $2,000 a week when they could pay a teenager $5.50 an hour.

‘Girl, all I do is sit at my computer and fill out surveys all day longer and I get PAID!’ 

There are some legit survey jobs out there but have manage expectations.  I worked one of these sites for month and all I made was $16.  This was after filling out dozens of surveys.  So don’t fall for ads claiming you can make hundreds of dollars a week filling out surveys – unless you’re not planning on sleeping.  And again, don’t pay for any lists of companies.  You can find these companies yourself with little research.

When investigating any online opportunity you should always err on the side of caution.  Also, it’s always a good idea to research the company using the Better Business Bureau or the Federal Trade Commission.