How to Determine If a Work-at-Home Business Opportunity is a Scam

Posted on June 18, 2007 and filed under Work at Home (WAH) Scams

OK so everyone wants to work at home, but everyone also believes that the majority of opportunities out there are scams. Everyone is afraid to win and afraid to lose! However, the fact is that many of the programs you find through a personal referral are not scams but rather hard to succeed at. The word “SCAM” is way overused and should be reserved for companies that take your money and run. Not everyone is cut out for a MLM (Multi-level marketing) plan. In this case you will earn money by selling a product or service and you will also ask others to join in the business to increase your earnings.

My first experiences with misleading job ads was in the local newspaper classifieds. Have you ever gone to an interview with a group of “applicants” are given a sales pitch to join? Obviously misleading! Before the Internet boom, I had joined a few different MLMs only to fail and lose money. I’m sure that someone succeeded with those companies, but it wasn’t me. I have found the same trends on-line at WAH sites but in a new format. So how do you tell if an opportunity isn’t right for you? First of all I always recommend using your intuition, but when all else fails, use my scoring system. When each of the following characteristics is present in the literature or website, score one point.

  • On the first page of the website, you can not find information on what product or service is being sold.
  • The font is huge, flashy and the web page is set up unprofessionally and may appear more like a blog.
  • You have to fill in your name, phone number or email address in order to get more information.
  • The main web page only talks about the benefits of working at home. Don’t we all know that already? This is wasted space!
  • When you try to exit the site, a pop up window comes up.
  • The first page has a bunch of testimonials that still don’t tell you what it is that they do. In addition, huge amounts of money are being reported as income by these members.
  • The website asks you to pay money for an e-book on how to make money on-line, usually upwards of $25.

  • The site says you are going to make huge amounts of money within in days, weeks or within the first month. Huge is defined as thousands.
  • In regards to stuffing envelopes and assembling items… If it is a no brainer task, why would they pay postage to send this to you? Don’t you think they could get their neighbors to do it for the high wages they are offering? If all you have to do is seal an envelope to get paid $1 for each returned envelope (which means an ad turned into a sale) why don’t they just seal them themselves? I just found a site that asked for $32.95 so you could get started.
  • You have to go to a meeting in order to get more information about the company. This translates to your recruiter is too new at this and needs someone that can handle your objections better. In addition, the meeting lasts well over an hour and you are still confused.
  • In order to join you must pay several hundred dollars or they offer a more inexpensive membership with limited ability to earn. In other words, it is a way for you to fail gracefully while they still make money.
  • The only way you can earn money is by having to recruit others even though you are selling products and/or services.
  • There is an offer for a limited time to join at a reduced price. The idea is to get you to quickly join before you think too much about it!
  • You find someones signature on the web page, as if that is supposed to convince you they are legitimate!
  • The product or service seems way overpriced. For instance vitamins for $50 a month seems high to me. Or how about juice for $50?
  • They ask for a small investment of say $6 to return a huge amount, only by placing classified ads.
  • You feel something inside of you that is completely uneasy, even though you want to believe it could be true.
  • The link to the website was found in your spam folder or received from someone you do not know.
  • A statement such as “ground floor opportunity” is used. Does that mean that everyone else is doomed to fail? Do you want anyone you get into the business to fail?

OK for the score now…. If the company or website scored at least a 5, I would definitely get more info before making a choice. If the website scored a 10 or more, I personally would run… it is up to you! A score of 15 or more probably means it is an illegal pyramid scheme! If you are feeling nervous about it, more than likely it is not a good match for you. Just because something doesn’t work for you doesn’t mean it cant work for others. Please be careful about calling a program a scam without investigating it.

For more information see http://www.fraud.org/

Here is an article from the BBB website titled“Work-at-home schemes now peddled on-line”

And here is an even better article that gives examples of fraudulent ads called “Work-at-home schemes”

By Amy Hatcher

** You can also check out the Inc Moms Forums for scams that have been reported, and to ask if a company is a scam. **