Working from home is a great way to make extra income or live the lifestyle you’ve always wanted. Unfortunately, scammers know this, too; they‘re just waiting to convince you they have the next best opportunity for you. Given even an inch, they’ll take advantage of your desire to strike out on your own. In this post, we’ll outline five of the most common must-avoid scams.
Some work at home scams have been around for a long time. Others are a new and burgeoning product of the growing online sphere. Either way, stuffing envelopes, processing emails, assembling crafts, copy/paste schemes, and processing rebates are still by far the most common. Here’s what you need to know about them to keep yourself safe as you wade into the work at home environment.
Don’t Get Cheated by These Disingenuous Work at Home Scams.
Stuffing Envelopes
This seedy scam has been around for decades, yet somehow, it’s still going strong. The claim is you’ll make money filling envelopes with documents and dropping them in the mailbox, newspapers, or magazines. These documents are the same as the ad you responded to in the first place.
So, what’s the scam? You pay for “startup materials” to get going. You’ll get nothing in return and end up with a bunch of useless ads. If you want to get into online marketing, there are much better options than stuffing envelopes.
Processing Emails
This one’s similar to stuffing envelopes with the convenience of never needing to leave the house. Spend up to 30 dollars for your startup kit filled with all the information and documents you’ll need to succeed. Again, it’s usually the same advertisement that got you hooked to begin with. No one’s going to send you any money for your investment or time.
Assembling Crafts and Electronics
This scam sounds engaging. Make crafts and electronics at home; it‘s perfect for stay-at-home moms or anyone looking to make side cash. If you guessed all is not as it seems, you‘re spot-on. You’ll pay for a kit of materials, assemble the pieces, and mail the finished product to your supplier for a profit. These kits can run up a few hundred dollars depending on the product which is a solid profit margin — for everyone but you.
Most of these “programs“ have rigorous quality standards with clauses that ensure you never meet your supplier’s quality standards, no matter how good you did. They’ll sell off your product at a discount to a retail store and pay you nothing at all. That’s just giving them free labour!
Copy and Paste
What could be an easier way to make money than finding content to copy and paste all over the internet? The theory is you’re only limited by how fast you can navigate your target websites. Similar to email processing, copy-pasting jobs make you pay for a startup kit and information (sometimes little more than an email telling you how to hit CTRL-V). They‘ll ask you to copy/paste links and ads to various sites.
The theory behind this is that you should see returns based on how many people click your links. Since it’s all spam that no one wants to see in the first place, you never do see those returns. This is a classic pyramid scheme in action!
Processing Rebates
Nearly all of these scams require you to pay upfront for something; rebate processing is no different. It is, however, one of the easiest to fall for because it sounds logical when you first think about it. Most companies offer rebates for their products; it‘s only natural to outsource the processing to someone else.
When you buy in, the poster will send you an information kit that teaches you how to post ads and rebate offers. The only problem is that the products you‘re posting for don’t exist. That’s fraud!
Rebate scammers promise commission when people buy through your link, but you’ll never see a dime. It’s all part of another spam network. The worst part is the original scammer doesn’t even get in trouble if caught because it’s you posting.
Anything that sounds too good to be true most likely is a scam. There are plenty of legitimate ways to work from home; the scams listed above are absolutely not your best investment of time and money. Be wary of anything that demands money upfront or claims to be “easy money;” in the real world, there is no “free lunch.”
