Top 10 Work At Home and Home Based Business Scams

How to Avoid Them - Part 1

Home-based business and work-at-home opportunity scams rank very high on the list of the top types of Internet fraud.

In this issue, we'll focus on the Top 10 home-based business/work-at-home scams. We'll give you the straight goods on envelope stuffing, mystery shopping, and other common home-based business "opportunities" you may have seen floating around the Net.

Then in the next issue, we'll give you some important tips you can use to kick the tires of any online job offers or business opportunities you find so you can protect yourself from those that are scams.

Work-At-Home and Home-Based Business Scams

There are two basic types of scams involved here. Scammers using both types are aiming at folks who want to make money from home, either by:

1. Having you work from home, doing envelope stuffing, craft assembly, or other tasks where you are (supposedly) paid by a company as an employee.

There are certainly some legitimate telecommuting jobs, but work-from-home jobs are often just big scams.

Before we go any further, a sobering quote: "There are very few legitimate [work-at-home job] opportunities available," says Beverley Williams, President and Founder of the American Association of Home-Based Businesses.

2. "Helping" you start your own home-based business, as a mystery shopper, network marketer, or other businesses where the only money anyone sees is the money the scammer pockets.

Certainly, there are LOTS of legitimate businesses that can help you start your own home business. We'll help you figure out which are real -- and which are just scams.

Our goal with Internet ScamBusters is to save you time, money and heartbreak before you fall for the scams. Remember -- if it sounds too good to be true... *it probably is*.

Why Are These Scams So Successful?

It all comes down to psychology. Besides the "make money fast" dream that many Internet newcomers fall prey to, home-based "opportunities" scammers mooch off the following groups. Perhaps you belong to one or more of them:

1. The Sick, Disabled, or Elderly: If you are elderly, ill, or have a disability, you may have problems landing a traditional job.

2. The Stay-At-Home Mother: Whether you have a spouse or you're single, you may be looking to supplement or create an income while raising children.

3. The Low-Income or No-Income Family: You or your spouse may have just lost your job, and you feel desperate and anxious to find work as the bills pile up.

4. The Person Without Higher Education: You're not stupid or dumb -- you just didn't go on to college or university.

To summarize, these scammers are often preying primarily on the sick, the disabled, the elderly, the unemployed, parents, and people without a lot of money.