I’m sure everyone who has been in the work at home field for any length of time has heard of or has been scammed. Unfortunately, it has happened to the best of us. Who wouldn’t pass up a title that says, “Make $5,000 in one hour just by sitting on your butt!?" I know it’s not usually the exact saying, but you’ve all seen something similar. People spend thousands of dollars thinking they will make it big, when in reality they’ve just wasted it on some scammer. Below are a few warnings to look out for when searching for your next work at home job..

“Only spend $29.95 and I will show you all of my secrets to my success”

They keyword here is spend; never spend any money on a program. I know how tempting it is to want to fall for this, and I actually have. Sometimes you will even get charged a monthly fee without realizing it. The best thing to do is just close the page and move on. You can get wrapped up in all the screenshots you see of how much money their making and how easy it looks. Then at the bottom of the page, it will say something like this, “For a limited time offer, you will only spend $25, after that it will be $500." They want you to think you will be missing out on a great opportunity. This just isn’t true, their trying to reel you when with your emotions instead of logic. They know you are usually desperate for money and wanting a quick fix and aren’t thinking logically, so they give this big hype about how in just a few hours a day you could be a millionaire. My word of advice: Don’t fall for it!!

Stuffing envelopes

This is another classic example of a work at home scam. I remember these when I was first starting out. I remember the website would say I would get paid $1 for every envelope I stuffed and mailed. Thankfully, I never got into it, but this is what usually happens: they ask for a fee of about $20-$30, you receive a package in the mail telling you to advertise stuffing envelopes. People will see your ad and pay you for more information to learn how to stuff envelopes. It just keeps going in a cycle; there is no purpose to it. Basically stay away from anything that says, “Make money by stuffing envelopes.”

Pyramid Scheme-The Recruiter

This is where people waste most of their money. This is also one of the hardest schemes to catch because it can sound like a legitimate investment. Here’s what happens:

-You have the “CEO” of a so called "investment firm", meaning just a person.

-The CEO recruits an individual to invest $500 in his company.

-Now the second person needs to make that $500 back. If he recruits 2 people and makes them pay $500 each, then he has made his money back, plus $500 goes in his pocket.

-Now those two people need to make $500 each from their losses, so they will each recruit 2 more people and so on. Each person has to pay their recruiter $500 in order to invest.

In the end the system will look like a pyramid, with the CEO at the top and the workers at the bottom. The deception is that people are making an investment and will make money from this, but eventually they will run out of recruits.

Data Entry-Anybody can do it jobs

Another scam that will mislead a lot of people is the data entry scheme. It will usually goes along with the first scam I mentioned. You will usually pay some fee and the selling point is that it is easy data entry that anyone can do. That should be warning because everyone has to work for their money a little. It sounds like you type a few sentences and you make tons of money. Most of the time you are writing ads for the websites that make you pay the $29.95 fee. You also have to pay for the ads on Google/Yahoo. It can all add up in the hundreds because you keep paying for fees. If you really want to write ads and try to make money that way, then just pay for the ads on Google/Yahoo.

Assemble Crafts for Money

If you’re a crafty person, then making crafts for money can be tempting. These are usually schemes too. Again, you pay a fee for your craft kit. In the kit you will have all of the necessary items to make your product. It can be anywhere from handmade dolls to angel key chains. You get paid for every product you assemble. Sound good? Of course it does, it’s a scam! The problem with these companies is that they will usually pay you for the first craft you send in. After that, they have the right to reject your assembled product and that’s what they do. You have no way of knowing if they just reject it, don’t pay you and then but turn around and sell it. Basically you are assembling toys for free.

The best advice that I can give anyone is that if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is. Now, I do have to clarify. There are legitimate websites that charge you for their services, such as training, counseling, etc. for work at home jobs. These websites won’t have flashy cars, screenshots of all the money they made, or tacky layouts. So if you do find a website that will teach you how to be successful working online, then research it. Most of the time they will have a free trial where you can check out what it has to offer or they will provide you discount. But mainly, you need to research the company. You should actually research everything you are interested in trying. If the company has bad reviews, then you need to move on and search for something else.

Good Luck and hope this helps!