In my long search for money making opportunities, I have come across some legitimate money making programs.
Unfortunately, the majority of money making opportunities on the internet are geared to make ONE person money and guess what, that person is NOT YOU.
Listed below is a summary of 5 so-called business opportunities that you will want to stay away from.
Envelope Stuffing Envelope stuffing is a classic pyramid scheme.
The seller charges the buyer a fee for the "opportunity" to send the ad for the scheme to more people.
The only money changing hands is for recruiting new people into the scheme, not for any product or service.
The last people to buy in will inevitably lose their money.
Home-Based Product Assembly Ads promise good money to assemble jewelry, magnets, or other crafts at home, once the buyer pays a fee for the materials.
If the materials arrive, they're in shoddy condition or impossible to assemble.
Even though sellers promise to buy the finished product back from buyers, they tell victims that the products aren't assembled correctly or don't meet standards.
Internet Storefronts For a fee, sellers offer to set up Internet storefronts or affiliate marketing Web sites that they say will bring profits without requiring any actual product to sell.
The sham Web stores leave buyers burned.
Medical Billing In medical billing and other computer-based work-at-home scams, the seller charges for training, software, and a list of purported leads, such as doctors who might use medical billing services.
But most doctors who outsource their claims filings turn to established companies rather than people working at home, and physicians on the "list of leads" haven't expressed interest in billing services.
Multi-Level Marketing Multi-level marketing models make each buyer an independent distributor of a product.
While some legitimate companies like Avon ( AVP ) use this sales strategy, scammers use it to load up their "distributors" with low-quality products they can't sell.
In some MLM businesses, the focus is on recruiting new members rather than selling products, turning them into little more than pyramid schemes.
Bonus Scam Get a Free Laptop Scam Although this is not money making endeavor it is a scam nonetheless.
The premise of this program is if you fill out some surveys you will get a free laptop for your services...
NO, NO, NO..
I have tried this before.
They take you through page after page of advertisers and you must sign up for free trials which end up not being free at all.
If you are going to try this, make sure you have a few hours and you document everything you sign up for on a trial basis and the date you need to cancel each trial.
When all is said and done, it will take you about 4 hours to complete the surveys and signs ups and in actuality, your free laptop will cost about $200.