Avoiding Work-at-Home Scams

As a network marketer I am also a work-from-home business owner and a large part of what I do involves helping others start work-at-home businesses of their own. I encounter a high level of skepticism about this, and based on a study by training and employee development company Staffcentrix of Annandale, VA, this suspicion is well founded. Staffcentix says their recent study showed that there are about 60 work-at-home scams on the internet for each legitimate opportunity.

Most scams are easy to spot, but some have become highly sophisticated. Here are a few things that  you should always do to avoid getting caught up in a scam.

1. Avoid up front "membership" fees, and avoid any offer that
    requires you to pay a significant amount of money to join
    (anything over about $50 sounds fishy to me).
2. Research any potential opportunity carefully before you
    become involved. Check out the company behind the offer
    with a thorough Google search and see what others have to
    say about it on sites like WorkPlaceLikeHome.com and
    WAHM.com. You would not start a brick and mortar business
    without doing your due diligence, don't start a work-at-home
    one either.
3. Consider extravagant income claims to be a warning sign. If its
    so easy to do and will make you rich quickly in just minutes per
    day then why isn't everyone already doing it?
4. If the offer comes to you on a phone call, get a name, a phone
    number and an email address and schedule a time to call back
    after you have had a chance to review their information and do
    your own research. If they aren't willing to do this, hang up.
5. Check the Better Business Bureau and the
    Federal Trade Commission web sites to see if there are a lot of
    complaints filed against the company behind the offer. Anyone
    can draw a complaint or two. But a lot of them is a problem.
6. Email is "free" and anyone can send out millions of them. Its
    generally wise to avoid offers that arrive by email. If its a real
    opportunity, and there is some reason to think you would be
    interested and qualified, someone will call you.
7. Does the caller actually do the business that he is trying to pitch
    to you? If not, how good an opportunity can it be?

There are real opportunities out there for people who want a work-from-home job or business. But 1 out of 60 is daunting odds. Ask questions, do your research and use a good dose of common sense and you can find one that is right for you.