Online Job Scams - BEWARE

Making lots of money by doing simple tasks from the comfort of your own home may sound too good to be true - and it usually is. Such get-rich-quick schemes have been around for decades and involve everything from taking online surveys to assembling jewelry, but perhaps the most famous scheme is the envelope-stuffing scam. In this one, workers pay a small fee to join the organization and are promised money for every envelope they stuff. However, the workers are stuffing envelopes with flyers that recruit other people to stuff envelopes, essentially just perpetuating the scheme.

While real work-from-home employment opportunities do exist, it's estimated that only one in 42 work-at-home job offers are legitimate. How do you know if it's a scam? If the pay is too good to be true or payment is required to begin work, it's most likely not a real employment opportunity. 

Please be careful when searching for a job online. 

There are so many scams out there;

• Mystery shoppers - can be real but 99% are ......scams
  
  
• Customer Service reps and processing orders - scam
  
  
• work at home envelope stuffing - scam
  
  
• rebate processing - scam 
  
  
• Do not send money to anyone for information or software so you can work for them online -scam
  
  
• Do not deposit a check for someone and then send them a portion back as a test.  Their check WILL BOUNCE and you will loose your money! - scam
  
  
• If someone wants to chat online with you to ask you questions or use IM for communication, be advised that this is NOT a NORMAL recruiting process, IT IS A SCAM!
  
  
• BS Sanders Flower Delivery Customer Service Reps - scam
  
  
• If you see the last name of STINNETT - scam
  
  
• If approached by the Armadillow Corporation - scam

20/20 just reported there is a 54:1 ratio of scam to legitimate "Work at Home" opportunities.

Before you spend money responding to placement firms or completing placement contracts:

• Reject any company that promises to get you a job.
• Be skeptical of any employment-service firm that charges first, even if it guarantees refunds.
• Get a copy of the firm’s contract and read it carefully before you pay any money. Understand the terms and conditions of the firm’s refund policy. Make sure you understand what services the firm will provide and what you’ll be responsible for doing. If oral promises are made, but don’t appear in the contract, think twice about doing business with the firm.
• Take your time reading the contract. Don’t be caught up in a rush to pay for services. Stay away from high-pressure sales pitches that require you to pay now or risk losing out on an opportunity.
• Be cautious about purchasing services or products from a firm that’s reluctant to answer your questions.
• Be aware that some listing services and “consultants” write their ads to sound like they are jobs when they’re selling general information about getting a job.
• Follow up with the offices of any company or organization mentioned in an ad or an interview by an employment service to find out if the company is really hiring.
• Be wary of firms promoting “previously undisclosed” federal government jobs. All federal positions are announced to the public on www.usajobs.gov.
• Check with your local consumer protection agency, state Attorney General’s Office, and the Better Business Bureau to see if any complaints have been filed about a company with which you intend to do business. You also may contact these organizations if you have a problem with an employment-service firm.

Seriously, be careful and skeptical.

Good job hunting!

Steven Carr