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Step 1
While it is okay and most of the time necessary to give out your personal information such as name and contact info, never give out highly confidential information such as your social security number or date of birth. When a company requires this information upfront you know that it is a scam. Legitimate companies only ask for that information after a job offer has been made.
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Step 2
There are many ads that tell you to start your own business using one of their schemes. Check out the sources with the Better Business Bureau and Chamber of Commerce before signing up. These government agencies have background information on companies and will be able to tell you if starting a business with them is a legitimate job option.
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Step 3
If a company ever requires you to send money before you are hired, run straight to the Better Business Bureau to get more information before forking over the cash. Many people fall into this trap and loose money to these scams. Always do your research.
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Step 4
Never cash checks! A common current scam is when a company sends you a check to cash against your personal bank account. You are told that you can keep a portion of the check only to find out in a couple of weeks that the check was fraud, and you are out a whole lot of money.
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Step 5
There are very legitimate work from home job opportunities out there, but the job-hunter must always do their research and keep a critical eye on the lookout for scams.
Comments
cosmopinkice said
on 2/14/2009 These are very good tips. I actually had an erep site once about a year ago and got an email reguarding your step 4. They wanted to purchase products, send me a check, me keep my part and send them the rest back. I wasn't foolish enough to accept it but I know people must fall for this scam. 5*