‘Make Money While You Sleep’? Dream On!

How to Spot and Avoid Those Work-from-Home Scams

By Pamela La Gioia

've been scammed plenty of times, and I do mean plenty!  By now, I can smell a scam a mile away.  Right?  Well, not always.  It seems that the smarter I get the smarter the scammers seem to get.  But when I decided that I wanted (needed) to work from home, I knew that I didn’t want (or need) to pay tens or hundreds of dollars to get a job. Nor did I wish to recruit tens or hundreds of people in order to get paid for whatever job I did get.  All I wanted was to do a better job than my competition.  You know—like I used to do in the "real" world. And I discovered that there are a lot of women just like me who were trying to avoid the emotional and financial pain of being scammed.

            Over time, I realized that there is no 100-percent, sure-fire way to protect myself. But I did learn—the hard way—how to recognize some red flags and lower my risks of getting burned. I eventually put my experience to work, starting a Web site, www.mommysplace.net, to help other moms who want to work from home. Below are the guidelines that I use as I research jobs for inclusion on the site. They’re easy to follow, and I offer them below with the hope of helping you find legitimate home employment.

 Don't pay for employment. This seems almost obvious.  But, if I'm asked to pay anything—even an application fee—I cross that ad off my list. 

 Look for these red flags.  If an advertisement contains any of the following words or phrases, stay away:

“Down line, Up line, Power line”

“Quick, Easy, No work” 

(Huh?)

 “Cash machine”

“Self-replicating”

“No experience”  

(Eh?)

“Unlimited income potential”

“Free details” 

(That's probably all that will be free!)

“Residual income”

“Turnkey”

“Multi-level, Ground-level, Levels deep”

“Tiers”

“Big money fast”

“Make money while you sleep”

 (I've never been paid to sleep on the job! Have you?)

 Be suspicious of companies that hire "internationally."  Chances are great that the "company" is really a person who happens to have an up line, a down line, or whatever.

 Don't send an SASE (self-addressed, stamped envelope) for further information.  If the company can't afford to buy stamps, it can't afford to pay you—at least not for very long!

 Never call a 900 number for information about a job position.  This is obviously the same as paying for information.

 Avoid paying the hiring company for materials you “need” to get the job done.  Either you have it, or you don't.  If you don't, then you probably aren't qualified for the job.

 Read an entire ad carefully before writing or calling the hiring person.  There might be fine print somewhere, where the words Up line, Down line, or whatever are lurking!

 Find out how long a company has been in business before agreeing to work for it.  Your hard-earned pay might end up being the owners’ grocery money, because they didn't budget their start-up money properly.

 Check out any company you’re considering with the Better Business Bureau.  Although companies pay to be listed there, any company that gets complaints will be listed, as well—for free. 

Join free support groups. Such groups as Telework Moms (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/teleworkmoms/), where everyone is in the same boat that you are in, can provide leads, information and a shoulder to cry on or an ear to listen to you when you have to vent.  Members love to blast a scam when they find one.  That alone will save you a lot of time and trouble.

            My absolute final guideline:  Pay attention to your instincts. Don't ever feel so desperate to find home employment that you ignore or overlook indications that something is a scam.  Scammers prey on people's desperation (particularly women's).  Know that you are not alone.  Don't make what you might think of as a desperate situation worse by letting yourself be taken in by a scam.

________________________________

Pamela La Gioia is the creator and Webmaster of mommysplace.net. She has been researching work-from-home issues since 1993, when only a handful of other webmasters recognized the growing trend of women working from home. For more information, contact La Gioia via e-mail at: pam@mommysplace.net. All questions and comments are welcome.

Copyright 2001, Pamela La Gioia