Home Based Business Warnings

Scams for Home Based Businesses that cost the consumer time and money

Description

With the inception of the internet, there are hundreds of scams and fraudulent sites that guarantee the participant “Gets Wealthy in a Matter of Days” for a minimal investment.  The only ones getting wealthy are the people running these rip-off sites.  This article addresses warning for home based-businesses and why consumers need to be leery of “easy” money.

Mistakes

There are several things to watch out for when considering a home-based business and identifying scams from real money-making enterprises.  Some of the predominant warning signs are:

• If it sounds too good to be true – it most certainly is!
• Be careful about the item or service being purchased – research the company
• Be suspicious of sites that indicate enormous part-time potential earning and no experience necessary
• Don’t buy expensive items unless the supplier can be verified
• Don’t just assume that because the advertisement states that the product is extremely popular that the quality is good
• Be very wary of “insider” information
• Don’t purchase anything from a site that requires the money prior to communicating what the product is or how the plan works.

Types

There are multiple scams over the internet and identifying all of them is impossible; however, there are some that fall into similar categories including:

• Work-at-Home Assembly – requiring investments of hundreds of dollars for instructions and materials, and work creating products, such as clothing, toys, or household items.  When products are completed, the company refuses payment because the product “doesn’t meet their standards”; consequently the consumer spent money and created products that cannot be sold.

• Envelope stuffing – many send promotional material demanding cash for details on how to get money stuffing envelopes, and most are simply methods for placing similar ads.  There are many variations to this, but the U.S. Post office states that envelope stuffing is now highly mechanized and work-at-home promotions never produce the alleged income.

• Online businesses – these state that having a computer provides an infinite possibility for making huge sums of cash once the consumer pays for a worthless guide listing work-at-home jobs such as data entry, billing clerk, or word processing.  Typically consumers are sent a CD listing free government web sites or other business opportunities that requiring more money,

• Medical Insurance claims – require expensive training programs, non-existent insurance companies who won’t pay for the work, and markets for these services are virtually non-existent.

Final Recommendations

It is always best for the consumer to closely examine offers that promises huge income with a work-at-home program, particularly if money must be sent to receive instructions, books, or investing.  Always check with the Better Business Bureau if there are any suspicions, and make sure that all scams and fraudulent businesses are reported.

If the business turns out to be less than expected keep careful records of money spent, ask for a complete refund of all funds spent, inform the company that law enforcement officials will be notified if the money is not return and legal action will be taken.  Keep records of all calls to the company, all paperwork including letters and receipts.

Always remember, if it sounds too good to be true – it probably is not true.