5 Work from Home Scams You Should Be Aware Of

A bad economic situation can make someone make decisions that are not right. Specially when it comes to work. This information can come in handy!

Knowing whether a work from home ad is legitimate or a scam is a common question asked by millions of unemployed people. To answer this question, there are many ways to recognize the most common types of work from home scams. If you are looking for work from home listings, avoid falling victim to fraudsters by knowing what to look for and what to ask potential employers.

Top Work from Home Scams

Take your time to examine any work from home job offering and carefully review all options offered. Here are the top five work from home scams you should be aware of:

1. Stuffing envelopes. This is a classic case of work from home scam.  Legitimate employers simply prefer paying mailing houses pennies per stuffed envelope.

2. Assembly work from home.  Legitimate businesses usually prefer setting up offshore sites for assembly work, which is much cheaper.

3. Ad posting. Tons of ads mention the need for workers to post commercials on online forums and bulletins. The problem here is that you are supposedly paid after customers sign in via your ads.

4. Claims or medical bills processing. Under current healthcare privacy regulations, health professionals simply don’t let anyone deal with private patient information. Most medical professional prefer using established and reputable companies with trained workers to process medical documents.

5. Refund recovery enterprise. Fraudsters provide workers with costly software that is supposed to track lost mail packages in this type of scam. The idea is that by tracking lost packages, customers of mailing companies will be able to get refunds. It’s a scam out to get your money since shipping companies and retailers have tracking systems of their own.

Generally, work from home businesses don’t ask potential employees for any up front money. Legitimate work-at-home industries and occupations abound, but you should be careful before working for one. Besides that, there are plenty of work from home positions like sales representatives and customer assistance personnel over the phone.

Protect Yourself

If you doubt a work from home ad, it might be the right time to do some research. You should start by checking the following three trusted websites:

1. BBB (Better Business Bureau). The BBB keeps a nationwide database with company information and complaints. It even has an employer rating for people to determine if a business is bogus.

2. National Consumers League’s Fraud Center.  Check the Fraud.org site for information on criminal and civil complaints against prospective companies.

 3. FTC (Federal Trade Commission).  The FTC is constantly searching for work from home scams. Read applicable work from home news and updates about possible employers. To further assist you, the FTC recommends you ask employers the following questions:

• What are may job duties? You should also ask the employer for a detailed list with duties to fulfill.

• Am I Being paid an hourly salary or commission-based only?

• Who’s in charge of paying me?

• When will my first paycheck arrive?

Work from home scams have flourished in the current tough economic market with high unemployment rates. Fraudsters simply aim to take advantage of people desperately looking for a job and a source of income. However, you can avoid falling victim to such frauds by recognizing how they work, doing some employer research, and knowing what to ask before accepting a position.

This article is provided courtesy of Credit Season UK, a consumer finance website providing information and tools on personal credit services.