How to Spot a Fake Work-at-Home Job

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By Patricia Gilliam
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When browsing work-at-home opportunities, use caution to make sure they're legitimate.

The idea of working at home has been growing in appeal along with the growth of the Internet, but you should be careful when it comes to work-at-home job scams.

In this article, I will give you some guidelines to help you in your search.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

A work-at-home job opportunity that you want to research.

Step 1

First, ask yourself if you are you being asked to pay for the opportunity? There are legitimate business opportunities where you need a small amount of start-up income, but those are not jobs--you should be told from the beginning what the relationship is between you and the company.

If you're being told that it's a job and you're being asked to pay for a "list" of possible employers, it is most likely a scam. The same information you're being given is likely available for free if you take the time to research it.
Step 2

Second, does the compensation seem appropriate for the job? If you're being promised thousands of dollars a month to stuff envelopes or read e-mails, there is probably something wrong.

One growing scam involves identity theft-people are told they'll receive large sums of money for receiving packages at their home and sending them to an overseas address. What the people don't realize is that the merchandise was bought online using stolen credit card information and that their address is where it's going to be tracked.
Step 3

Third, find out if the business registered with the Better Business Bureau or a similar regulatory organization. One day I thought I had found a legitimate opportunity. The pay seemed reasonable and the company seemed like it would be good to work for. Then I looked them up on the Better Business Bureau's website (www.bbb.org) and found they had several lawsuits against them that were enough to make me change my mind.

Every company is going to have its issues, but it's best to check them out on non-partial sites to find out their background has a major problem.
Step 4

Lastly, listen to your intuition. People sometimes underestimate their ability to spot something fake. If you keep your emotions in balance-not letting yourself get overly excited or too negative-you can likely find some great opportunities if you take the time to research.