Steer Clear of Home Business Scams
by Patricia Schaefer
$2,000 Weekly mailing letters, possible from home! Postage, supplies
furnished.
No experience necessary. Guaranteed opportunity! Call NOW! 1-900-555-0100.
Would you respond to this ad? Does it sound like an offer too good to resist?
If you would, you’re not alone … and you’ve just fallen for one of the oldest
and most classic home business scams known to man – Envelope Stuffing.
Home business scams each year rob unsuspecting victims of millions of
dollars. Victims targeted include stay-at-home parents, the unemployed, elderly,
disabled and people with low income. Con artists employ deception,
misrepresentation and fraud; namely, an intentional perversion of truth in order
to induce another to part with something of value. And that something of value
my friend is your hard earned money.
Learn from the following guidelines how to differentiate between legitimate
work-at-home employment opportunities and the scams – scams that waste your time
and money, can ruin your reputation and might even cause you to be held
personally liable for perpetrating a fraud:
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is
There is no such thing as a free lunch and there is no such thing as a
get-rich-quick home business, except maybe for the scammer. Home business
opportunities that offer a lot of income in a short period of time with little
work involved should be avoided like the plague.
Be very wary of companies wanting money
Asking for money up front is a classic indicator of a con. Although it isn’t
uncommon to invest money in a home business, legitimate employers never charge
to hire you. Most times what you really get for your money is information on how
to scam others or, if the ad implies an actual job, all you get is information
on how to start a business. If you do invest in a business opportunity, use your
credit card instead of cash. Credit card companies offer greater ease of getting
your money back if you are a victim of fraud.
Don’t ever call a 1-900 number
Resist the urge to call that 1-900 number “to get more information” about
that great job opportunity. If not, you will be paying for the call, often a
minimum charge of about $35.00. The scammer gets a portion of the money from
each incoming call, and you’re stuck with the phone bill.
Take your time researching and deciding
Don’t be pressured to “act now.” Any business that tries to force you into
making a rushed decision isn’t a business you should be working with. Take the
time to find out how long the company has been in business and whether or not
there have been any complaints filed against it with the Better Business Bureau.
Stay away from companies that provide no telephone number or use a PO Box rather
than a full street address. Obtain and call references provided by the company
but realize they may be bogus. Get all the details and the refund policies in
writing.
Know the most common home business scams
Envelope stuffing
Modern mailing equipment has virtually eliminated the need for homeworkers
to “stuff envelopes.” Typically what you receive for your start-up money instead
of envelopes and supplies are instructions to place an ad just like the one you
just answered. In essence, you are required to become a con artist yourself in
order to make any money. Stuffing envelopes is a scam. Period, exclamation
point!
Product/craft assembly
Once you pay the up-front fee and finish assembling your first product
batch, you’ll be told by the company – even if you did it perfectly – that it
doesn’t meet their specifications. The company is actually making their money on
selling the starter kits, not selling the assembled product, and you’re stuck
with 100 toy clowns that are virtually impossible to sell.
Pyramid schemes
Don’t confuse pyramid schemes with legitimate multi-level marketing (MLM)
businesses where the emphasis is on agents selling actual products or services,
not just on finding new recruits. Pyramid schemes are fraudulent money-making
schemes in which people are recruited to make payments to others above them in a
hierarchy while expecting to receive payments from people below them. Eventually
the number of new recruits fails to sustain the payment structure, and the
scheme collapses with most people losing the money they paid in. Remember, if
it’s all about recruiting, beware.
Medical billing
After paying hundreds of dollars for a start-up kit for your new home based
medical billing service, you find your kit contains outdated or irrelevant
physician contact information and useless software. Competition in the medical
billing market is very strong among a number of large and well-established
firms. Almost all who buy into this opportunity fail to generate enough revenues
to even recover their investment.
Type-at-home
Guilty of falling for this one myself, these are usually scams. For a
required fee, they promise you a listing of companies looking for home-based
typists and the companies aren’t even aware they are on the list and seldom need
help.
Unsolicited emails/internet schemes
With the rise of the internet and email, online home business ads are just a
updated version of old scams. Simply apply the same guidelines as you would with
traditional ads.
Should you or someone you know fall prey to a home business scam, there is
still hope.
Contact the offending business – if possible – and ask for a refund. If they
refuse, tell them you plan to notify law enforcement officials. Be sure to
notify at least one of the following offices:
- Federal Trade Commission – File a complaint through their website
at www.ftc.gov, or call them
toll-free at 1-877-FTC-HELP.
- Better Business Bureau – Go to their website at
www.bbb.org to file a
complaint. File it with the bureau serving the area where the company is
based. Don’t know? There are tools on the site to help.
- Attorney General office of your state – Do a search on your
favorite search engine for “YOUR STATE attorney general.” Once on the site,
click on the prompts to file a complaint.
- U. S. Postal Inspection Service – Locate your local postal
inspector’s office at
www.usps.gov. A telephone number will be provided.
Fraud is a crime. According to statistics maintained by the Federal Trade
Commission, business opportunity and work-at-home fraud has increased each year
for the last three years. Although your investment may be gone, you may find
some solace in notifying authorities. The offending business may just end up
being criminally charged and fined, and others may be saved from your fate.
Copyright 2005 Attard Communications, Inc.
|
