As a potential work at home employee you must check to make sure that you are not being defrauded by a con. There are some classic signs of a rip-off or scam.

1)      Most scams require money up front. A genuine job offer from a legit employer should not cost you any money. Of course you may have to own a computer and certain software to perform the job at home. But you should not have to buy either a computer or software through them or be expected to use hyperlinks they give you to make such purchases, in which they are profiting from your purchase and that would send up a red flag.

Also, while some businesses where you become an independent consultant do require you to buy a start-up kit, you need to be aware that you will be working solely on commissions and will not be considered an employee of the company literally. With the write-offs this can be a great thing, but you need to understand the pros and cons.

2)      Nobody is going to pay you to stuff envelopes at home or assemble products for a legit job. They are running a scam and either will take your money and run or will try to convince you to pull the same thing on others. There is no way you can stuff as many envelopes as cheaply as an automated mailing house company, nor assemble products as cheaply as labor in foreign countries including our neighboring Mexico.

The United States Postal service offers an article and a free DVD about work at home scams to help protect you. Work at Home Scams  and Free DVD offer  (Web of Deceit: Internet Fraud; Work at Home Scams: They Just Don’t Pay; Delivering Justice: Dialing for Dollars).

3)      Always check every business with the Better Business Bureau also known the BBB and if it is an online company you have BBB Online to consult as well.  The Federal Trade Commission also has a site with a lot of information where you can even take the Grand Scam challenge.

4)      As far as taking surveys or mystery shopping goes, again all companies can be found for free, I will write an article about this very soon and list companies. Most surveys do not pay. You are just entering a sweepstakes. My kids make more money than I ever have doing surveys for one company designed just for kids. Focus groups pay very well, but you cannot get them often enough to make a living. They are fun for an extra $50-$100 once in awhile.

Mystery Shopping can pay if you are very organized and detailed, but again it will not be big money and on most mystery shops you cannot take children. You do not get a lot of free stuff to keep. I am a mystery shopper part time. I only do it to pay for dates with my hubby or help pay for theme parks with my children. It does not usually even cover the entire cost of our meal for the dinners with hubby and we are reimbursed for a certain amount. Theme parks usually only cover one ticket. As for the movies, so far all the offers have been to sit there all day and count people as they come in and leave.

5)      A lot of companies are advertising for you to help them run their E-bay store or design their sites or listings. So far every case I have seen is a scam. They want to make you the fall guy. E-bay and other auctioneers warn you not to allow your name or address to be used to sell anything that you are NOT in possession of to deliver and know that it is legal to sell (not stolen, pirated, or against US laws). Also the money must come directly to you or you will never see a dime of it.

6)      You will not see “phone or instant messaging acting, or psychic” ads on this site. As a Christian site we will not endorse these inappropriate ways to earn a living. Many are scams, but even the legit ones are still sin.

7)      The old saying, “If it seems to be too good to be true, run away!” My precious aunt recently read about how she could make big money doing data entry. I was saddened to have to inform her…it is a scam. Most data entry jobs pay $6-$12 an hour at most. You will be doing well to make $8 an hour doing data entry.

 If you find something you are interested in, but you’re not sure if it is legit, please feel free to email me at the following address and let me know about the job offer and why you are concerned. I truly don’t want any of my sisters or brothers in Christ to be scammed. Contact Us

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