Working at home can be promising, but you need to look out for scams.
Lots of the scams look professional and legitimate, but that's just how these people suck you in.
It's very hard to tell the real jobs from the fake ones.
Sometimes the only thing you can do is try the job out first and if it turns out to be a fake, stop working immediately.
This article will give you a few pointers on classic scammer signs, as well as five of the most well-known scams out today.
Red Flags Before you agree to any work-at-home job, there are some things to consider.
There are also things to watch for when communicating with the person who is soon to be your potential employer.
The list below gives some classic signs of what scammers can do.
-Incomplete or fake names If the employer refuses to give you their full name, or gives you a name that you are pretty sure is fake, that's a big sign.
They will probably hide other things from you as well if they're already hiding their name, and you don't want this from an employer.
Scammers hide their names because that makes it harder for them to be caught.
-Scarce information Lots of times, scammers will make their job advertisements descriptive but when you apply and they claim to give you the job, they will not give you a lot of information.
If you are unclear on what you're supposed to do, ask.
If the person does not reply or still doesn't give you enough information, they could be fake.
-Up-front fees or account numbers A big thing scammers do is ask for certain things such as account or card numbers before you begin working for them.
Don't give out your account number.
If you have a PayPal account, you probably should not even give them that information until you are sure the job is legitimate.
They can steal every cent you have, and lots of them do.
People get scammed and robbed over the Internet every day and don't realize it.
Also, if a job requires you to pay beforehand or buy software from them in order to start working, it's more than likely not real.
Five Popular Internet Scams Below is a list of the five most popular ways that people get scammed over the Internet.
-Data Entry Jobs These ads are everywhere.
The person will offer you a job entering clerical data into a worksheet and sending it to them...
and you receive no money for it.
Also popular is the classic data entry title that involves you not doing any data entry at all--you could actually be scamming people yourself and not know it.
-Assembly Companies will offer to pay you for doing things such as creating birdhouses, dolls, dollhouses, and other various arts and crafts online.
You create them and send them in to the company, who in return sends you nothing but a laugh in the face.
-Email Processing These jobs will offer to pay you lots of money to process emails...
whatever that is.
Companies, legitimate ones that is, will process their own emails, and if they need an email processor, they're not going to pay someone fifteen dollars per email to do it.
You'll process emails for the exact same ad you just responded to, scamming more people and not even knowing it.
-Type-At-Home Jobs Lots of people need people to type for them for the comfort of their own home! Wrong.
Well, it's all over the Internet, right? Yeah, scams are.
Don't go for the typing-at-home jobs, even if you can get rich online with their software for only a small fee of $19.
99.
They're scammers.
Legitimate jobs usually don't charge you to work for them.
-Envelope Stuffing This is probably the most popular form online of getting scammed.
These people offer you three to four dollars per stuffed envelope.
They'll ask for your money, promising a return of hundreds of envelopes per month that you can stuff and get paid for.
This starts a chain reaction that, though it may make you money, will scam others in the process.