How,Avoid,Work-at-Home,Scams,a DIY How To Avoid Work-at-Home Scams and What To Do When You&
Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in When starting a new work at home business it is very easy to become consumed by it. We spend so much time trying to get the business up and running that we may end up becoming burned out and lose our motivation. There is so much to learn and
© 2004 Vishal P. RaoAs more and more people opt-out of conventional jobs andinstead choose to work from their homes, the number ofwork-at-home scams has also increased. Each year thousandsof people find out the hard way that opportunities which aretoo good to be true usually are but not before they investand waste millions of dollars a year.You don't have to be one of those unfortunate people. Allyou need to do is to become more informed, ask theappropriate questions, and know what to do if you are thevictim of illegitimate opportunity.Become More InformedOne of the first things you should become aware of are thetypes of business opportunities which are most frequentlyscams.One of the oldest of these scams are stuffing envelopesand/or assembling items in your home. You'll find theseopportunities in lots of sources, even some that arelegitimate. However, what most of these ads fail to say isthat you have to pay them a fee to begin. Then after youcomplete your job, your work is often rejected assubstandard and, of course, you never see a penny. The otherthing that happens is that you have to send in money only toreceive instructions on how to place an ad just like the onethat you've just placed in order to bring individuals justlike yourself.Another common work-at-home scams are Pyramid schemes.Pyramid schemes are often passed off as MLM (multi-levelmarketing) opportunities, but there is a key difference.Pyramid schemes are more concerned with having you bring inmore people and less concerned with selling products. Thereason is that they aren't making their money off of sellinganything to actual customers but from taking money fromhopeful entrepreneurs like you. Most of these schemes askyou to make an investment or a purchase in order to become afull-fledged participant and/or to receive all of yourpotential profits. Generally, you never see any of theearnings promised in their advertisements.If an opportunity you've found seems to fall into one ofthese categories, you should start asking questions beforesigning up for anything.Ask the Appropriate QuestionsEven though these work-at-home opportunities often statethat you have to act now or join by a certain time to secureyour spot, you must take the time to ask questions. Then,don't join unless your questions are answered to yoursatisfaction.Here are some of those questions:1) Ask exactly what type of work you will be expected toperform.2) Ask how you will be paid. If you are going to be paid bycommission, be sure to ask exactly what your percentage willbe.3) Ask exactly how much money you need to spend, includingfees, supplies, inventory, etc.4) Ask how long the company has been in business sincenon-legitimate companies frequently change their name to goout of business.5) Ask to get copies of the company's sales materials andproduct descriptions, so you can determine howproduct-focused the company is.Know What to Do If You Are a VictimIf you are the victim of one of these scams, then you needto know what to do next.Your first course of action should be to notify the company.Talk to someone as high up in the business as possible andbe sure to make them aware that your plan to contact theappropriate authorities.If you don't receive any satisfaction from the company, yournext step is to report the company to the authorities. Youshould file a complaint with at least one, if not all, ofthe organizations below:1. The Federal Trade Commission You can file a reportthrough their web site at www.ftc.gov2. The Better Business Bureau You can contact them throughtheir web site at www.bbb.org.3. The Attorney General of Your State You can find out howto contact the attorney general in your area by doing asearch for Your State attorney general at Google.com. Theright page should be the first or second that appears in thesearch results.The bottom line is if a business opportunity seems to goodto be true, then it's worth checking out. Any business thattries to pressure you into making a hasty decision isn't abusiness you should be working with.
How,Avoid,Work-at-Home,Scams,a