Make Big Money, No Experience Needed
“Make big money…No experience or education required.” Job boards and classified ads are rife with many such offers of employment. But beware, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” There are many unscrupulous people more than willing to separate the gullible from their money, even if they’re unemployed, starving or homeless. But there are ways to avoid becoming a victim of job offer scams.
Before sending any money or giving out personal information, do a web search of the company and look for negative comments. It shouldn’t take but a few minutes to find out if the company is legitimate or not. Check out the company’s web site. Are the job details sketchy? Is the website mostly pictures and a lot of words not saying much? Are there lots of testimonials? All of these are warning signs to proceed with caution.
So, what are some ways to find out whether an offer is a legitimate offer or a scam? The Better Business Bureau is the first stop for many. They usually have the latest data on new scams hitting the market. Others simply type the name of the company in their search engine. Many times others have already had dealings with shady companies and have posted their reviews and experiences. Or visit this site which lists many common scams currently making the rounds. http://www.scamxposer.com/fakebusinessopportunityreviewsites.html . And for those who have already been burnt, make a complaint and post a comment at: http://www.whoscammedyou.com/
Although job boards try to police their listings it's difficult to stay abreast, especially when the legitimate offers seem to number about the same as the illegitimate. This means it’s up to the job seeker to investigate.
The first tell tale sign of a scam is if the ad asks for money, whether it’s an administrative processing fee or charge for “training” materials. Never pay to apply for a job. Legitimate job offers rarely, if ever, charge a fee. In addition, never give out social security numbers to potential employers until they have been thoroughly researched. The same applies to personal or financial information.
It’s easy to find these advertisements. Most are data entry and work at home schemes. If “Work from home” is in an ad header, there's a good chance it's a come on…“Work from home” is not a job title." Also avoid any spam ads arriving via e-mail. How would someone in a foreign country know you were looking for work? Don’t fall for the “be removed from our list” button either. Basically, all that does is alert the scammer they have a valid e-mail address, which will probably be sold and you’ll get even more spam.
One man, who had been unemployed for several years, came across an ad recently. The “job” was basically a data entry work at home offer processing job orders for a construction company.
The ad said there was a processing fee…but failed to say how much. This is commonly called a tease, a way to get suckers to request more information. It’s an easy way to get an e-mail address. Something didn’t seem right, so the fellow decided to research the company. The first thing he discovered was the ad was proliferating job boards across the country and the website had only been up a week.
Others who had actually sent the requested $30 for their training found out they didn’t have to make any phone calls as part of the job as promised…all contact to customers was by e-mail. In other words, he became a salesman first and then got to work data entry.
Basically, if an ad claims lots of money in a hurry with no experience or skills necessary, look elsewhere. Then, there are the companies trying to collect personal information to sell to a third party, which in turn makes a pitch to sell their own products and services. Unfortunately, victims of work-at-home scams are generally those who can least afford it. However, anyone can get sucked into these scams. With the Internet, scams can reach hundreds of thousands of people instantaneously.
Identifying a scam seems like it would be easy. But that’s not always the case. Many who create bogus websites are skilled con artists. Professional photos, testimonials, audio and video can all add up to be pretty convincing. Unfortunately, many job seekers will still be sucked in by job scams. Perhaps, they should chalk it up to a hard lesson learned and hope they won’t be a victim of Identity theft.
