Work at Home Job Scams

A work at home scam is a fake opportunity to earn money from home. Would-be workers are tricked into signing up, and sometimes even paying, to do a bogus job. They later find out that the work is illegal, or there is no pay, or the job is not what they expected. These types of scams are on the rise. The British government agency, Office of Fair Trading (OFT), estimates that these scams cost victims £70 million a year in the UK alone. There are many different kinds of scams. However, there are several steps you can take to avoid being a victim of scammers.

Types of Scams

One of the most common types of work from home scam is the money transfer scam. The firms responsible for these scams advertise a work from home job on the internet and then get applicants to receive fraudulent monies into their bank account. The applicant is then told to withdraw the money and transfer it to another country. This counts as money laundering. The unwitting victims who are tricked into doing this work usually have their bank accounts frozen once the money laundering is discovered. Another scam is the type where you are asked to pay money in order to sign up for a work from home opportunity or course. You are promised materials and tools to set up your own business or make money online, but they never arrive. There is also the kind of scam where you do the work but then you are never paid. Companies may tell you that they will pay you for each leaflet or flyer you put up near your home. You go out into your local neighbourhood and distribute lots of flyers, but then you never hear back from the company and never get paid.

How to Avoid to Getting Scammed

There are several actions you can take to avoid becoming the victim of a scam. Ask yourself if an opportunity you're thinking of applying to sounds too good to be true. If it does, then it probably is. No legitimate employer will ask you to pay money to sign up for a job opportunity, so discard any advertisements asking you to do so. Instead of trying to find homeworking opportunities by yourself, go to your local job centre or employment office, because they will be plenty of legitimate job vacancies being advertised by reputable employers there.

Report Scams

If you or someone you know has been scammed, report the scam to your government's consumer advice agency. This way, you'll potentially save a lot of other people from being scammed in the same way or by the same company. According to OFT, only 2% of people in the UK who get scammed actually report the incident. Keeping quiet about a scam means that the perpetrators get away with it, enabling them to scam other people in the future.