How to Detect Work at Home Scams (10 Tips)

As you were browsing the Internet today, you came across the “perfect” work-at-home job.  You read over all the job details and you notice that you have the right computer equipment, the skills that they are looking for and the pay is exactly what you were hoping for.  You are so excited about this opportunity that you can not wait to apply online!  You click on the apply button and quickly discover that this work-at-home job just may in fact be another work-at-home scam.

Has this happened to you or someone that you know?  If so, you should be proud of yourself! You were able to detect that work-at-home scam without having to waste any of your time or even lose some of your hard-earned money.  If you have yet to encounter this, just know that as long as you continue to look for work-at-home jobs on the Internet, eventually, you will run across a work-at-home scam or two.

This post was written to empower you to use your knowledge and discernment so that you can detect any work-at-home scam online.  Here are just a few facts that you need to know about working at home and its predictions for the future.  Please join Workersonboard Community for more info about online scams and to find legit work-at-home jobs.

Fact:  Working from home according to Forbes.com has grown by 80% over the last 7 years and is expected to continue to grow at a rapid pace in the months and years to come.

Since that is the case, you can expect that work-at-home scams will continue to thrive to tap into this audience promoting their various schemes to deceive honest, hard-working job seekers.

Fact:  According to US Census.gov, 13.4 million people worked at least 1 day a week from home.

This data was calculated back in 2010 so we can predict there are many more people doing so today due to the advancement in technology and mobile communications.

Fact:  Working from home is becoming less of an alternative work preference and more mainstream due to more households having access to the Internet, information about legitimate work-at-home jobs providing more options for those who want employment remotely, the desire not to commute, and other factors.

As you can see, working from home appears to be here to stay for many years to come.  I can personally attest to this fact because I have seen new companies come on board to offer employment to home-based workers in my personal research.

I have also noticed a lot of work-at-home scams mixing in with legitimate work-at-home employers.  Craigslist seems to be one of the sites scammers saturate because it is very inexpensive to advertise there and they can reach literally thousands of potential job seekers, stay-at-home moms, and others desiring to make extra money online.  It doesn’t stop there because they have been known to promote their work-at-home scams on other sites like Indeed, YouTube, Career Builder, as well as forum communities centered around working at home.

What can you do to detect these work at scams from the Real work at home jobs?

Here are some of my top 10 tips that will help you to avoid work-at-home scams 

1.  Fees – Believe it or not, there are some legitimate work-at-home companies that do require that you pay some fees to cover the cost of training (Arise and other companies that you may work for as an IBO – independent business owner may ask you to pay for training materials), background check or to purchase some equipment.  Just make sure that the company is legitimate before you go into your pockets to hand over cash.  You will need to have your guard up if you come across any company that asks you to pay a fee just to apply online, to be a member, to join their program, for your credit card information, and so forth.

2.  Money Transfer – If a company asks you to wire money from one account to another or sends you a large check to deposit into your account first before you have ever done any work, BEWARE!  It is a scam.

3.  No skills or experience – There are some exceptions to this rule because there are some legitimate work-at-home employers that actually hire and pay remote workers with little to no skills to complete tasks from home but in general if a company states that you only need a computer and the work is very easy, just make sure that it is legit before you apply online.  These scams may involve getting paid to process emails, post ads online, read news, stuff envelopes, assemble items, and everything in between.

4.  Avoid sales pitchy job descriptions – If the job sounds more like a sales pitch or a gimmick investigate the company further.

5.  Data Entry Processors – This is another category that work-at-home scammers will target because they realize this is a very sought-after and competitive job market and they will use this to their advantage to get you to let down your guard.  Many work-at-home data entry jobs take a little time for you to get the job and may hire in spurts or when the demand is great.

6.  Exaggerated income figures – If you see a work-at-home job that says you can earn $1,000 a week part-time typing at home, this is definitely a work-at-home scam.  Compare those earnings with the same kind of work you would do outside the home.  Would a brick-and-mortar company pay you that amount to type in data at their office?  Most likely the answer is no and this is one way that you can discern work-at-home scams.

7.  Pressure – Beware of companies that try to pressure you to sign up right now or to agree to a contract immediately!  If you do not feel comfortable with the contract or if you have questions and they avoid your questions and tell you to ask fast, that is another indication that this could possibly be a work-at-home scam.

8.  Located outside the US – If a work-at-home employer that you are interested in applying to corresponds to you and they reside in Bahrain or somewhere outside the US, make sure that they are legit before you respond.  Look for a phone number and try to call someone to see if you can actually reach a human and not an automated message.

9.  Vague or General Job Descriptions – If a work-at-home company tells you little about the work that you will be doing and focuses more on the fact that you get to work from home and make money and the benefits associated with it rather than the job, be very cautious and make sure that it is an actual work at home job.

10.  Check the company name – If the company you are applying to online reads something like Get paid daily, Typing Jobs 4 all or sounds a little scammy, do a Google search on the company to see if they have outstanding complaints, bad reviews, or reports about them.  Check to see if they have a Facebook page and read some of the comments from others and you may find out that they have not paid their workers.

Of course, there are even more ways that you can detect if a work-at-home company is legit or a scam.  I have just listed a few for you today.  I am sure that you can even think of more, but this list will lead you in the right direction so that you can protect yourself, save you some time and heartache so that you can find, apply and get a work-at-home job.

For work-at-home jobs posted online today, please go to my official website at Workersonboard.com here.