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As the Better Business Bureau notes, the Internet may be changing how scammers get ads and messages before a wide audience fast, but their targets have not changed. "Work-at-home con artists have always preyed most heavily upon senior citizens, the disabled, mothers who want to stay at home with their children, people with low income and few job skills, and people who just want to get rich quick," the BBB warns.
The too-good-to-be-true offers seem to be everywhere, even in the comments on Shine. So to separate true work-from-home opportunities from scams, follow your instincts and this advice:
- Know the signs of a scam. This is where your instincts come in. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. That said, there are some distinct signs of a work-at-home scam, starting with overstated claims of what you'll be able to earn, of a product's effectiveness.
- Know common work-at-home scams. Some of the more prevalent scams include at-home assembly jobs, such as craft kits. I interviewed a woman years ago who shelled out $40 for "glamour hair bows" and found the assembly tedious and the return on her investment and time very disappointing. Next, she answered an ad for cleaning "natural fibers," which turned out to be horse hair, which made her house smell and for which she paid $30 to have delivered to her home. Think about it: Have you ever had to pay an out-of-the-home employer money before you are paid a salary or commission? (Excluding franchises, that is.) Other common scams involve envelope-stuffing jobs, chain letters and "online business" opportunities that, again, ask you to send money for a disk, which often turn out to be poor business leads that you have to pursue on your own. The Federal Trade Commission warns that these offers rarely involve stuffing envelopes but typically do involve fraud. Multi-level marketing, also known as pyramid schemes, are another work-at-home scam to avoid. Multi-level marketing can work when real products are sold through at-home parties, for example. But many just rely on people recruiting other people to pay into the scheme with few or no products sold. Stay away. The FTC has several good articles on at work-at-home schemes on its site worth a read.
- Use reputable web sites to find and vet work-at-home opportunities. There are work-from-home jobs that will provide the flexibility and pay many are seeking, but you've got to do some research to make sure they are legitimate. To check out a company, start with the Better Business Bureau. If you've got a sneaky feeling that a work-from-home job ad is really a scam, you may find it at scambusters.org, which gathers info on all kinds of online and offline scams. And you'll have a better shot of finding legit opportunities on sites that have women's best interests in mind and vet ads on their sites. Women For Hire is one, and you'll find some good advice on how to avoid scams on the site, too. Homebased Working Moms is another site that has been focused for nearly a decade on helping women find rewarding, well-paying work-at-home opportunities.
If you do seek a work-from-home opportunity, make sure you get paid what your experience and time is worth. You'll find some pointers on how to negotiate pay for a flexible job in this post.
