Work at Home Wednesdays

Avoiding Scams

There are many companies now offering legitimate work at home opportunites. However, there are many scammers out there and it is important to know how to spot them. Christine Durst, author of The Rat Race Rebellion, says her research indicates the ratio of scams to legitimate opportunities is 42 to 1.

Here are some tips I have picked over time on how to avoid scams:

1. Check out the company's website. If it is brand new or the only information offered is about a job, then be very cautious.
2. Legitimate companies will never ask you for money upfront before you have been officially hired. Some companies do require a background check and will ask you to pay this before you begin working. However, at this point, you have been essentially hired pending an acceptable background check. There are also companies that will ask you to pay for training materials, but, again this is after you have been hired.
3. Check with the Better Business Bureau and see if the company has any complaints. Customer complaints are not necessarily important. Customers will complain about prices being too high or some customer service representative that was rude. Look out for employee complaints or many customer complaints that point to the company being fradulent or unethical.
4. Never give out pin numbers or passwords to your bank accounts. Scammers will ask for this under the pretense of verifying you are a real applicant. Do not fall for this!
5. Don't assume that because a job ad has been posted on a reputable job board or website that it is legitimate. There is no way for these sites to keep up and verify every job ad. You must do the research yourself to determine that the job is credible.
6. If you reply to a job ad and the response does not include a company name, be very careful! Also, if they do provide a company name and you cannot find it anywhere on the internet, then also be very cautious!
7. Be wary of a company that is willing to hire you without an interview, a resume, or speaking to you.
8. If it sounds too good to be true, then it is probably a scam.
9. Check the Attorney General for your state to be sure that the company you are applying with is a licensed company.
10. Check the company out at Rip Off Report.

Don't let this list intimidate you or scare you off from working at home. There are many legitimate work at home opportunities available. I have worked for two of them so I know that they exist. This list is meant to empower you so that you can begin your search with confidence. Tune in next Wednesday for information on how to write a resume when applying for work at home jobs.