Work at home scams are rising fast and not being a victim will take great analytical skills. Learn how to spot the scams, common scam methods and how to avoid being caught in one. As work at home jobs become more popular, scammers will be out in full force to take advantage of unsuspecting job seekers.
Spotting Scams
Scams are becoming more elaborate and hard to spot until it’s too late. A typical scam usually sounds too good to be true. They promise the world and seem like everything you would ever want in a job. Once you fall for the tactics, you are sorely disappointed in the outcome. Common sense just says avoid anything that sounds too good, but if the scam looks real – it could be harder to figure out. In such cases, you may need to dig deeper and investigate by asking questions or searching the Internet. A reputable company has a verified location and contact details. There are hundreds of scam watch sites on the Internet today and a simple google search will bring those results to the top of the search results.
Common Scams
The most common scams are jobs that are described one way but are totally different once you are given more information. The most popular work from home jobs is data entry or administrative. Scammers make you believe that these jobs are simple clerical jobs that require no selling or customer service, but once you receive the job details – you learn the position is just a commission based job that requires someone to buy something in order to get compensated. The other common scams are jobs masquerading as business opportunities where a candidate has to purchase something in order to get started. A great example of this is medical billing or transcription opportunities. Companies are actually just selling software or an online course. The candidate is made to believe that once they purchase the software or course, they will immediately be hired. However, that is not always the case. The company will give you leads, but not jobs – this means job seekers will still have to search for a job. Always read the fine print and ask a lot of questions before deciding to continue.
Avoiding Scams
The best way to avoid scams is to only search reputable job sites like Indeed.com or HEA-Employment.com. These sites allow you to search for work from home jobs by the company which helps job seekers verify the authenticity of an employer. Even the most popular job sites can’t get keep out all the scams, so job seekers must be aware and check each and every position as well as the company to make sure everything looks right. The saying “that if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is” is still valid today.