Scam or the Real Thing

You know the saying, “it is too good to be true.” You should always keep this in mind when searching for a work at home (WAH) job. There are a growing number of WAH scams. So, how do we tell the difference between a scam and the real thing?

The most common clue is when the “employer” requires you to pay a fee. Never pay money for a job. An example of a job that requires a fee is a survey taker. Many survey jobs require a monthly fee (say $20) advertising earnings of $20 per survey. The $20 surveys are rare. Most of the time, you receive low paying surveys (i.e., $2 per survey). In addition, you do not get theses assignments on a daily basis. You may only receive two a month. Therefore, you just made $4. However, the survey company just made $16 because you paid them $20 just to take the survey.

Another common scam is when a company seeks a financial consultant. The majority of these jobs require you to maneuver money from one person to another. Most likely, the last person is out of the country. The financial consultant is responsible for opening a bank account to receive money from Person A. Then, the financial consultant withdraws the money and wires it to Person B. This process cleans the money of a trail from Person A to Person B. The only connection with the money is the financial consultant. There are high odds that the money is stolen and the financial consultant is stuck holding the bag.

The best advice you can take is to research all WAH jobs and to trust your judgment. In many cases, if a WAH job is too good to be true, most likely it is a scam.

Posted:Wednesday, November 05, 2008