Work at Home Offers to Avoid

By Joy Lynskey

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You, just like many others may have struggled in the past with looking for some legitimate work from home jobs only to find scams, theft and other unethical practices the main job legit work from home jobsrequirement. This happened with such frequency that to this day I still find myself astounded when those who aren’t aware of the entire world of freelance work say things like “There are no legit work from home jobs,” or “All work from home jobs are scams.” While this is entirely untrue it is easy to see why people have drawn that conclusion over the years.

Common Work at Home Scams

There are a few different offers you should be wary of if they are made to you.

Investment Scams

Any sales person or company that asks you to pay to gain a service that promises you work at home jobs in any form is likely a form of scam.

Low Investment High Return Scams

Any work from home offer that advertises that you will have no actual work to do and will just collect money from some random source is highly likely to be an unsavory scam as well.

Manual Work

Any work that requires assembly, envelope stuffing or or click work are likely to be a bit of a scam as well. Although you may actually be able to collect money for doing these things, the amount of work versus the amount of money you make, or lose, during the shipping and receiving of these products may make the actual profits incredibly minimal for the time you have to devote to these types of projects.

Start Your Own Business

Always be wary of offers that say they will allow you to start your own business from home. Often these offers will only provide you an eBook or some other form of text that is aimed at teaching you various methods of beginning a small business of different varieties. What really makes this type of offer a scam is that all of the information in these offers can be found elsewhere on the net by simple research.

1-900 Numbers

Anything that ask you to call a 900 number is an absolute scam. The call itself cost money and that’s how those particular scammers make profits. The information you get on the end of the 900 number line will be lengthy and long winded in hopes of you remaining on the line longer to rack up higher profits for their company.

The Scammed Become the Scammers

Many work from home offers such as medical billing or typist jobs will advertise a ‘package’ to get you started for a certain price. Once you have purchased their package you have already fallen for their scam. And since these packages rarely contain helpful information, or information that a person who has researched work from home jobs hasn’t already come across, they will actually tell you to re-advertise their original scam and to provide any of those customers with the same scammy package, likely an ‘educational’ CD on how to place ads for yourself advertising medical billing or typist skills.

Chain Letters

Really. Chain letters will never make you money in any form. Not only that but chain letters are notorious for carrying viruses and trojans and other things that can actually make your PC vulnerable to attack, and therefore vulnerable to being destroyed. Don’t risk your PC by opening these types of advertisements for work at home jobs, and don’t waste your time or money by trying to practice them.

Tips for Avoiding Work at Home Scams

One of the most general rules of thumb to always remember about just about any type of job is that if you do not have to put effort into it, if it is not actual work, it is highly likely it is some form of scam. You really rarely ever get something for nothing. So don’t expect that some fantasy job where you sit at home all day and collect piles of money is an actual reality.

There are many legitimate work from home jobs but as any freelancer can tell you, it does require work. The reality is that in the early stages of a freelancer career you will likely work for prices that most other people would never accept for a nine to five job. You can and will get past that ‘break in period’, but until you have put in the time it takes to gain the best knowledge to make your career as a freelancer lucrative, any offers that promise you that you can bypass that sometimes painful learning process, should be regarded as a scam.