Work-At-Home Scams
There are a lot of legitimate work at home job opportunities out there for anyone willing to work, but there are even more scams that steal people of their time and money as well as their dignity and faith in their ability to succeed in a home-based working atmosphere. The following are several key ways to pick out legitimate work at home opportunities from full-on scams.Stop dreaming. Don't kid yourself that you are going to make heaps of moneyl with your new work-at-home venture. Whether it's a home-based business or a work at home job, a business is still and always a business, and a job is still and always a job. Both take hard work.
Be wary of unsolicited emails. By and large an unsolicited email is for a fraudulent "opportunity". When you see an email offering you an attracting work-at-home opportunity, ask yourself where the email came from. How did the sender find you? Did you sign up to receive these notices, or could it be spam? Does it address you personally? Does it mention a referral from anyone you know? Keep your guard up when reading emails offering you work of any type.
Never pay for a job. You are looking for work. You should not have to pay for it; it should pay you. A legitimate company looking to hire you will not ask you for money. Generally, if a company asks you for money first, it's either a home-based business opportunity or it's a membership based job-finding service or it's a scam. In any of those cases, we refer you to tip #1 - Always Do Your Due Diligence.
Learn to know the market. Before you apply for a work-at-home job or sign up for a home-based business, research if there is truly a market for the products or services you’ll be providing. Do not just take the potential employer’s word for it. If they make some big claim about customers waiting, ask for a partial list so you that you may contact them and verify the prospective employer's claims.
Always ask for references. Contact some other people who are already doing the work you are considering taking on. Ask them if it really is what it confesses to be and, even more importantly, whether they are satisfied with the outcomes. Ask as well whether they feel that the company has been keeping whatever promises that have been made to them.
Check the law on working at home. Make sure you don't get yourself snarled up in some illegal scheme that you'll later regret for more reasons than none. Find out from the State Attorney General's office whether you would require to obtain a certification or a business license in some area in order to do the proposed work legally. You may also want to make sure your local zoning board permits you to operate a work at home business from your home (if relevant). In lot of cases, certain types of work will be allowed while others prohibited within the same zoning area. Your local Department of Labor can give you those guidelines.
Do not let yourself get tangled in by work at home scams. Know how to identify them and save yourself loads of trouble.
