How to Identify and Avoid Work at Home Scams
If you're looking for a legitimate work at home job, you'll need to know how to spot a work from home scam. Unfortunately, work at home job scams are fairly common and they target stay at home moms and other individuals who are looking to make money working from home. Find out how to avoid and identify a work at home job scam.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
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1
Start a notebook for your work at home job search and make a page for each company/website that's offering a work from home job that you're considering. You'll take down notes and record thoughts on each work from home job opportunity.
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2
Read the fine print and work from home job listing information to look for information on whether the company/website will withhold money or ask for a payment or fee. You should never have to pay money to make money - this is a sign of a likely work at home scam. A legitimate work from home job will pay you.
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3
Perform a WhoIs look-up on a website offering work from home jobs and check the age of the domain registration. Work from home scams typically involve very new websites, which disappear after a few weeks, so you'll want to avoid any work from home job listings involving a brand-new website/company. (See resources for several WhoIs look-up sites).
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4
Ask for feedback from friends, family members and fellow stay at home moms who work from home on whether they're aware of the company/website as a legitimate work from home job. Many people who work at home on the web are aware of which work from home jobs are scams and which work from home jobs are legitimate.
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5
Ask for feedback on work at home forums like WAHM.com for work at home moms, WorkFromHomeForum.com and Work-At-Home-Forum.com. The forum participants can share information on legitimate work at home jobs and work at home scams based on their own experiences.
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6
Perform a basic online search using the company/website name and the term "scam" to find blog entries, forum posts, etc. that discuss work at home scams. If a company or website is involved in work from home job scams, it's very likely that the illegitimate work from home opportunity will be discussed in blogs and forums.
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7
Write down (in your work from home job opportunity notebook) any information about possible scams on the page for the particular website/company so you can keep track of which work from home job opportunities are legitimate and which ones appear to be scams.
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8
Record all information - hours worked, payments received, etc. in your work from home job notebook.
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9
Monitor payments very carefully once you've started working from home, as many work from home job scams involve non-payment or payments that are less than expected. Late payments or shorted payments are often signs of a work from home scam.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Read all available information about the work at home job opportunity and always ask questions!
