How to Tell if a Home Base Business Opportunity Is a Scam
Consider how you found out about this great opportunity., Who are you working for and what do you do for them?, Where does the money come from?, Research the company., Read the employment ad., Do they want money from you before you get money from...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Consider how you found out about this great opportunity.
Reputable companies tend not to recruit through telemarketers, late night infomercials, or bulk unsolicited email.
Nor do they vandalize wikis or employ spambots. -
Step 2: Who are you working for and what do you do for them?
If you don't already know, it's probably a scam.
Reputable companies want people to know who they are and they try to get the right person for the right job.
When General Electric puts out a help wanted ad, it reads, "GE is looking for a web developer to promote our online store." not "Want to work in a business associated with a Fortune 500 company? No door-to-door selling.
Not a MLM." Look for a company who tells you who they are, not who they aren't. , Who is paying and what product or service of value are they paying for? Good businesses create wealth and distribute it so their employees, customers, owners, and suppliers are all satisfied.
Scammers don't create anything of value.
They just move money from their soon to be disappointed customers to themselves. , Do they advertise? If so, are their marketing efforts focused on finding more customers, or on finding more distributors? Presumably, they know best what their product is and who pays their bills.
If their primary product appears to be get rich quick plans with no other obvious source of revenue, then their money is coming from you.
Where is your money coming from? , Reputable companies will use most of the space describing that they expect of you as their employee or independent contractor.
They don't show their vacation photos, their sports cars, or their piles of cash as suggestions for what you could do with all the money you're about to make.
They also don't fill the page with testimonials telling how much they made and how easy it was with disclaimers at the bottom stating "results not typical".
They don't post scanned checks as "proof" that it works.
Since legitimate sites don't have any use for all that stuff, their page is probably no more than a screenful.
If for some reason it's longer than that, it's probably well organized with tables of contents and section headings for readability. , Reputable companies never bill their employees as a condition of employment.
They consider training materials, background checks, software licenses, etc. as a cost of doing business if they want the right people for the job. , Most real businesses don't want to bother with someone who isn't likely to be able to reliably do their job and screen their recruits accordingly.
Unless, of course, the only "job requirement" expected of you is the ability to sign your name on a check and send it to them. , Ask your Attorney General and the Better Business Bureau what they know about the company.
A clean report might doesn't necessarily mean that it's safe to join.
They might still be robbing people, but being careful to do so legally, or just too new to have attracted much negative attention.
On the other hand, a company currently under investigation for fraud should be an immediate deal breaker. , Why would they want to hire you to do that? One possible answer is that they're involved in money laundering, identity theft, or some other illegal scheme and don't want their activities traceable back to them.
Instead they'll be traced back to you! Even if the paychecks are real, the men knocking on your door with guns and search warrants asking why all these electronics purchased with stolen credit cards were shipped to your house will also be real.
You might not go to jail if you plead plausible denial-ability and cooperate with the investigation, but is it really worth it? -
Step 3: Where does the money come from?
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Step 4: Research the company.
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Step 5: Read the employment ad.
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Step 6: Do they want money from you before you get money from them?
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Step 7: How thoroughly do they vet their potential employees.
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Step 8: Check for other complaints.
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Step 9: Beware of any job that could be done by anyone (or in some cases even by no one.)
Detailed Guide
Reputable companies tend not to recruit through telemarketers, late night infomercials, or bulk unsolicited email.
Nor do they vandalize wikis or employ spambots.
If you don't already know, it's probably a scam.
Reputable companies want people to know who they are and they try to get the right person for the right job.
When General Electric puts out a help wanted ad, it reads, "GE is looking for a web developer to promote our online store." not "Want to work in a business associated with a Fortune 500 company? No door-to-door selling.
Not a MLM." Look for a company who tells you who they are, not who they aren't. , Who is paying and what product or service of value are they paying for? Good businesses create wealth and distribute it so their employees, customers, owners, and suppliers are all satisfied.
Scammers don't create anything of value.
They just move money from their soon to be disappointed customers to themselves. , Do they advertise? If so, are their marketing efforts focused on finding more customers, or on finding more distributors? Presumably, they know best what their product is and who pays their bills.
If their primary product appears to be get rich quick plans with no other obvious source of revenue, then their money is coming from you.
Where is your money coming from? , Reputable companies will use most of the space describing that they expect of you as their employee or independent contractor.
They don't show their vacation photos, their sports cars, or their piles of cash as suggestions for what you could do with all the money you're about to make.
They also don't fill the page with testimonials telling how much they made and how easy it was with disclaimers at the bottom stating "results not typical".
They don't post scanned checks as "proof" that it works.
Since legitimate sites don't have any use for all that stuff, their page is probably no more than a screenful.
If for some reason it's longer than that, it's probably well organized with tables of contents and section headings for readability. , Reputable companies never bill their employees as a condition of employment.
They consider training materials, background checks, software licenses, etc. as a cost of doing business if they want the right people for the job. , Most real businesses don't want to bother with someone who isn't likely to be able to reliably do their job and screen their recruits accordingly.
Unless, of course, the only "job requirement" expected of you is the ability to sign your name on a check and send it to them. , Ask your Attorney General and the Better Business Bureau what they know about the company.
A clean report might doesn't necessarily mean that it's safe to join.
They might still be robbing people, but being careful to do so legally, or just too new to have attracted much negative attention.
On the other hand, a company currently under investigation for fraud should be an immediate deal breaker. , Why would they want to hire you to do that? One possible answer is that they're involved in money laundering, identity theft, or some other illegal scheme and don't want their activities traceable back to them.
Instead they'll be traced back to you! Even if the paychecks are real, the men knocking on your door with guns and search warrants asking why all these electronics purchased with stolen credit cards were shipped to your house will also be real.
You might not go to jail if you plead plausible denial-ability and cooperate with the investigation, but is it really worth it?
About the Author
Marie West
Committed to making creative arts accessible and understandable for everyone.
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