by Jennifer Moll

Created on: August 03, 2010

The lure of a career that allows you to work from home is very attractive to many people for various reasons.  Unfortunately, with the increase of people looking to work from home, there is also an increase of scams.  While there are many legitimate work from home opportunities, there are five times as many scams just waiting to take advantage of unsuspecting people.  You can avoid these scams if you know what to look for.

Here are some red flags that an opportunity is a possible scam:

The opportunity costs money.

If the company charges any types of fees for a job, don’t waste your time or money!  Any legitimate company does not charge anyone to work for them.  Do not confuse this with a “business opportunity”, where you are required to purchase a starter kit or business plan to run your own business.  These are not scams, just be sure to do your research about the opportunity before you spend any of your money.

Absence of company contact information.

A legitimate company that is offering work from home employment should have their contact information readily available such as a phone number and street address.  Also, they will use a professional domain name and email address, not a free account such as yahoo.  Be sure to take the time to verify the address and phone number of the company.  A good resource to check on a company is www.bbb.org.

Use your common sense.

“If it seems too good to be true, then it probably is.”  This can not me more true.  Some companies will claim that you can make thousands of dollars a week while doing nothing.  Stay away from these, they are a scam.  You will work hard for each and every dollar you earn with a real opportunity.

Referrals

If you are required to refer people to an opportunity or earn money from your referrals, it is probably a scam.  No legitimate company will require you to refer people to work for them!

New work from home scams are popping up each day.  If you know what to look for and use some common sense you will be able to avoid becoming a victim to these scams on your journey to find a legitimate opportunity that allows you to work from home.  Just remember to know who you are dealing with before you commit to anything or give out any of your personal information.

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