Working from Home in the News

Here's a link to a great news clip out of Norfolk talking about a ton of work at home scams. it explains in a nutshell why survey scams, medical processing, and stuffing envelope companies are all similar scams that prey on unwitting consumers. They also spotlight Working Solutions as a legitimate work from home employer. Check it out.

Work at Home and Easy Money Scams

We've set our Google alerts to send us daily information on working from home. Mostly, this floods our inbox with junk. Which is really not cool, but comes with the territory. I tend to burn the midnight oil when doing work for LittleWhiteEbook, so usually, around the time the clock strikes midnight, my inbox starts to flood.

"Make 5000 a week working from home"... "Work from home for just five minutes a day!" - these are the typical ads that get delivered to me. Mostly, the claims of easy money come with an earnings disclaimer - saying basically, if you're not smart/a hard worker/ dedicated, they can't guarantee you'll make anything. That's in the very find print at the bottom of a sales ad. That's so, if you buy their system, you'll feel bad/undedicated/or basically like a failure. (And they're betting on this so that you don't ask for a refund.)

Is there a such thing as easy money? Really?

Here's my take on it.

I live near the DMV here in Washington DC, and in the summer, a lot of men and women go up to the Giant grocery store, buy a cold 24 pack of water, and stake out a spot on a median strip. This is usually when they go sell it in the 90-some degree weather. Technically, you could call that easy money. But you still have to weather the heat and deal with the police if you don't have a vendor's license. The need is immediate, though, so these minipreneurs make some quick, easy cash, and then go home. They pay about 5.00 for each crate of water and then sell the water at two bucks a pop.

On the web, however, people take their time making decisions. Nobody will buy from you simply on request. You can't get website traffic without some sort of effort - either time or money. And in the end, you still have to offer something of value.

Nobody is going to pay you $5000.00 a week to "type simple ads". If they did, I would be typing for them right now instead of typing this blog. And so would the guys who write those sales letters. Trust me on this. Usually, these kinds of scams are Adwords and Adsense-related "systems" - but they don't tell you that until you've paid them some big bucks. Suddenly, that "work from home job" has become an Adwords "scheme".

There's no such thing as "easy money" - there's always some sort of work involved. Easy money can be had sitting in place, selling water - but you still have to buy the water, find a spot, and weather the heat. You probably have to defend your territory on that, too.

You can set up an online store but you (or somebody) still has to work at getting you some traffic.

Work always comes before money. That's a good thing to remember when you're searching for legitimate jobs online.

First Call Marketing - a Scam?

Maybe not a scam - but a trick. The job is "making outbound calls to consumers interested in business opportunities." Be wary! There is no website for them, and they are based in Overland Park, Kansas... Just like NHCD...And Global Homesourcing.... Who we revealed as a scam here.

Work at home scam reviewers wanted

Work at home scam? Or work at home opportunity?

If you're arriving at this blog to investigate an online company that claims you can make money from home, and you're interested in finding out if it's a scam - well, we can't afford to buy the product for you. And we're kinda busy with our own stuff....

But our friends at I've Tried That have a great offer for those that don't want to fork over any hard earned cash... They're offering to take up the cost in exchange for an honest review. And if it turns out that the company in question is NOT a scam, you can pay them back cuz you're making money.
See the post on investigating business opportunity scams here.

GlobalHomeshoring.com - scam?

We haven't added them to the book yet, but we wanted to let everyone know that this company has complaints from ex-employees as far away as India and as close to home as Kansas. It's actually a front for the National Health Care Discounts - which is pretty much a company that recruits people to sell "health discount plans". And they have a really lousy reputation on RipOff Report - including complaints about not getting paid and running off with people's money.

Homesourcing

Great video! Scam-proof!

This YouTube video is a great spoof of all the "online systems" that "teach you" how to get paid to read emails, blogs, and, well, all the other crap that you could easily learn on your own. Don't you love it when you come across a sales pitch with vague descriptions of what you'll get, a long list of bonuses, and claims that don't even really make any sense? "Gabe and Max's Internet Thing" will make your day.

Is it a job? or is it an "opportunity" ? read the earnings disclaimer

We've found a great shortcut to investigating those companies that are charging for "work from home" information. It's simple and it's easy.

Companies that tell you that you can make $100-1000 per day, working from home are usually selling you something (and it's not an hourly wage.)

They know they're in danger of being sued. They have to cover their butts.

Hence, the "earnings disclaimer". This may appear as a tiny link a the bottom of a long sales letter. But it's not to be ignored.

Jobs, and job directories, have no need for an earnings disclaimer. They tell you how much you'll be paid if you get the job.

If you're afraid of being scammed, check out the "earnings disclaimer" of your potential opportunity. It will tell you how the results aren't typical. Some earnings disclaimers put an even better spin on it: "MONETARY AND INCOME RESULTS ARE BASED ON MANY FACTORS. WE HAVE NO WAY OF KNOWING HOW WELL YOU WILL DO, AS WE DO NOT KNOW YOU, YOUR BACKGROUND, YOUR WORK ETHIC, OR YOUR BUSINESS SKILLS OR PRACTICES" say a few of these "cash cow" type websites.

Ugh. While there are many websites out there with earnings disclaimers that may be legitimate business opportunities - it's a sure-fire scam when the companies goes from "guaranteed" on their sales letter page, to " It's your fault if you don't make money - we don't know you, so we can't guarantee anything!"

If you feel like laughing at outlandish claims of riches, and then reading about how they can't really guaranttee you'll make a penny, browse Google for some interesting earnings disclaimers.

I've Tried That tries "The Little White Ebook of Homeshoring Jobs"

If you're not familiar with I've Tried That, it's a fantastic blog dedicated to online programs and scam-busting. So, they tried The Little White Ebook of Homeshoring Jobs. Here's what they think.

Work at Home Assembly Scams

It's nice to know when somebody makes a living off of work-from-home scams, they're actually prosecuted when they're caught. National Home Assemblers made 3 MILLION dollars off of people who wanted to work from home. Now they're going to prison.

The article is the Houston Chronicle and it gives a lot of insight into how those "assembly work from home" scams are run. Pay a ton of fees, buy the sample product, pay to ship it, then the assembly company rejects it because it's not up to their standards.

Ignotius - smells like a scam

Never pay anything up front for a work at home job - especially if you're really just paying for a CD!

Ignotius offers a work from home "homeshoring opportunity" - but first, you have to order their "training cd" to learn how to work from home. (They talk about answering the phone, medical transcription, etc - all which are very very different occupations and require completely different training.)

Ignotius's BBB Reliability Report - F

They have a logo for the Association of Teleservices International on the website - and they're not a member. The clients they list all have invalid telephone numbers and they actually own and host the domain for one of the websites.

Cute that they say "October 2nd, 2007 Quan's Rockin Sushi becomes our 100th client since opening. We will be servicing their guest-list line, info line and complaint line." and the phone number is simply out of service. They must be doing a hell of a job.



Don't give them your money! And warn others if they ask