how to avoid work from home scams

How to Avoid Work From Home Jobs Scams

Hey there! Some links on this page are affiliate links which means that, if you choose to make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I greatly appreciate your support!

Interested in working from home? The Internet makes working from home and telecommuting easy today and many people are taking advantage of work from home opportunities. However, it is important to be aware of work-at-home scams and know how to avoid them.

If you see a work from home job or business opportunity that looks too good to be true, it could be a work from home scam.

How to Avoid Work from Home Scams

Here are some tips to help you detect and avoid work at home scams and increase your chances to find great, legitimate work from home.

Don't let online work-from-home some scams stop you from trying to find a legitimate work-at-job or business opportunity. Instead, learn how to do your homework and detect scams from legitimate work at home.

10 Ways to Avoid Work from Home Scams

how to avoid work from home scams

Here are several ways to tell if a work-from-home opportunity or business opportunity is real or if it's a scam.

1 – No Contact Information or Unreliable Contact Information

Real work-from-home jobs and business opportunities provide the owner's name, phone number and a real business email address. You should be able to find out more information about the business, the person or people behind the business and the job.  And you can't find out who they are if they only provide a Yahoo, Hotmail or Gmail address on their website.

2 – Promises of Outlandish Pay for Low Wage Positions 

Unusual high pay for low-pay jobs is a common sign of a scam. If you see a website promising a lot of money for positions that typically don't earn that kind of money, it's a scam. Be realistic. You’re not going to make $45 dollars an hour as a receptionist.

3 – Promises of Riches Overnight

Any so-called opportunity or plan that claims you’ll become rich overnight is a scam. Working from home at a job or running your own business requires skill and work to make money. Some jobs require more skills than others but you're going to have to do work to get paid.

avoid internet scams4- It Sounds Too Good to Be True

If you have a gut feeling that the opportunity is just too good to be true, it probably is a scam. Don't be tempted! Take the time to research the job and the company that offers it. Do your due diligence and walk away if you don't find enough proof that it's legitimate.

5 – They Ask for Money Up Front

Take time to research any work from home or business opportunity before paying any money.

Never pay to get a job. Also be very careful about paying for anything you need to get the work done. Be suspicious of any job that requires you to pay a fee to get the job. Don't pay for application fees or processing fees. If you need software, starter kits, or other tools to do the work, the company that's recruiting should not require you to buy those FROM THEM. For example, if you do transcription work from home, you'll need software but you can start with free software and you should not have to buy any software from the company you want to work for.

Here are some exceptions:

  • Education, including courses and books may require an investment.
  • Business opportunities may require an investment but you should check them out thoroughly.
  • Many MLMs (Multi-Level Marketing) ask for money up front. Many are legitimate companies that provide real income opportunities. But some may be pyramid schemes and you really need to research any MLM company before joining them or paying them any money.
  • Some jobs require specific tools or software and that's okay as long as you don't have to buy it from the people who provide you with the work.
  • Some companies may require you to pay for a background check. This can be legitimate and is often required for court reporting jobs and when the work involves legal documents. Just make sure to check the reputation of the company. And only pay for a background check after you pass a test and are qualified to do the job.

6 – Pressure to Act Now

If you’ve been contacted by someone making promises about making tons of money and claiming you must act right now or lose out forever, it’s a scam. A real opportunity is going to be there tomorrow.

Exception: It's okay to have deadlines to get special discounts. For example, you can get many discounts on Black Friday or Cyber Monday and you can take advantage of those as long as you buy from established companies or websites you're familiar with.

7 – Ignore Unsolicited Emails Offering Positions You Did Not Apply For 

You may get unsolicited emails after applying or filling out real job opportunities online. They get the information online and then they send you unsolicited jobs or offer advice for a fee. Delete those emails.

scam

8 – High Pay Promises and No Training or Experience Required

If you see customer service jobs that require no experience, make sure to check them out thoroughly and don't give them any personal information until you have them checked out. Established companies will only recruit work-from-home customer service reps that are experienced.

Sure, there are jobs out there that don't require experience but they will typically offer low pay. For example, some transcription companies will accept people with no transcription experience. But that doesn't mean you don't need to have any skills. You need to have good typing, grammar and listening skills even for low-paying transcription jobs. And you'll typically have to take a test to prove that you can transcribe accurately.

Check the job description and required qualifications. Real jobs require experience. Legitimate job descriptions will specify what experience, skills, education or background you need to qualify for the job. If they don't require any skills, it's probably a scam.

9 – Don't give out your personal information to people or companies you don't know.

Thoroughly check out any job that requires you to give your bank information or credit card or financial information. Some scammers pretend to be employers. They ask you to fill out their employment application and provide your name, address, bank account's routing number and social security number.  Don't give out this type of information to strangers. They may ask for this information to steal your identity.  To protect yourself if you’re in the USA, get a free employment identification number (EIN) from the IRS and provide that instead of your social security number.

If your identity has been stolen, or you think it has been stolen, go to IdentityTheft.gov, report the identity theft and get a free recovery plan that will tell you what to do.

10 – How to check out Work-from-home job opportunities

Use the Better Business Bureau Scam Tracker

If you see a work-from-home job or business opportunity that sounds like an illegal scheme, check out scams with the Better Business Bureau Scam Tracker. You can search for scams by keywords and read about current scams and commons scams.

Tell the BBS about it. Help them investigate and warn others by reporting what you know. Report a scam at Report a Scam.

BBB scam tracker

Research the company 

When checking out Internet marketing opportunities and Internet software, I always do several Google searchers. One way I search is by using the name of the company or the name of the product with the words “scam” or “review” after it.  This is a great way to find out what poeple say about software, courses, or anything else you consider purchasing.  And you can conduct the same type of research for any work-from-home opportunities.  If the company, product, software or course has a bad reputation, you will most likely find some reviews about it.

For example, if you do a search for “envelope stuffing scam”, you'll learn that envelop stuffing offers are scams.

You want to research any company you want to work for or buy from. You want to find out if they're legitimate and how they treat their employees and independent contractors. Check out their website, check them out on social media, and check reviews at popular job sites like Indeed, ZipRecruiter and Monster.

Look at reviews, check online business complaint sites, and check out feedback on work-from-home forums.

Take free courses and subscribe to their newsletter

Taking a company's free courses and subscribing to their newsletter will give you a good idea of the quality of their information and their experience. Here are several great free work from home courses you can check out:

Use legitimate job sites to find jobs

Use established job boards to find work from home jobs. While there is no guarantee that all jobs listed in those job boards are legitimate, job offers sent through email are usually not legitimate. Always check out the company's  website if you find a job opportunity elsewhere.

Below are some of the best known, established job sites that will help you find legitimate work-from-home jobs.

Get freelance, part-time, full-time
work from home jobs

Find Remote and Flexible Jobs with FlexJobs today!

  • FlexJobs is a job search board that specializes in listing remote, freelance, flexible work from home jobs and freelance work. They specialize in jobs for people who want to work from home and have a flexible schedule. Every job they list offers work flexibility such as telecommuting, freelance, part-time or other flexible options.
  • The job listings include part-time and full-time jobs and range from entry-level to executive positions.
  • You can search jobs in 55 categories including transcription, captioning jobs, research, accounting, customer service, call center, education, marketing, and more.
  • Get jobs with Amazon, Apple, American Express, Hilton, Aetna and more well-known companies.

Pros:

  • This is a great job board to find scam-free, work from home, remote jobs world-wide.
  • What makes this job board unique is that they thoroughly research and screen all the jobs and all jobs listed are 100% legitimate work from home so you don't have to be concerned about scams.
  • This job board helps you find legitimate, hand-screened remote, part-time, freelance, and flexible jobs quickly, easily and safely.
  • This board is specialized in remote, freelance, flexible jobs so it will save you time as it can be time-consuming to go through other job boards that have a mix of positions.
  • This is a great board to find management and IT positions.
  • This job board has a good reputation and has been featured by many prominent news sources and publications, including TIME Magazine, WSJ, Forbes, USA Today, NBC and CNN.
  • In addition to providing job listings, they also provide a lot of resources to help you in your job search.
  • Try it out risk-free with their money-back guarantee. You can cancel anytime.

Cons:

  • This job board is NOT free.
  • People report that the majority of jobs are executive-level positions and few entry-level positions are available. Corporations often only consider experienced workers for telecommuting jobs. And this may explain why there are more executive-level positions listed in a board that specializes in work from home jobs. TIP: If looking for an entry-level position, put “entry-level” in your search to save time and only find those kind of jobs.
  • Many of the jobs posted on this board are also available through other boards. However, you'll have to wade through the other boards to find the work from home jobs and this board will save you time.

Find legitimate, professional work-at-home jobs
in 50+ career categories with FlexJobs.

Save up to 30% at FlexJobs with code SAVE30 and find your new remote job.

Here are screenshots of searches I did for freelance transcription work and freelance proofreading work.

flexjobs search for transcription jobs
flexjobs job search for proofreading jobs

Save up to 30% at FlexJobs with code SAVE30 and find your new remote job. Find some real work from home jobs and online jobs

Work at Home Jobs from Top 20 Legitimate Companies

12 Online Jobs – Work from Home or Anywhere

WORK FROM HOME RESOURCES

Disclaimer: I only recommend products I believe in. If you purchase a product through a referral link, I will get a commission. It won’t cost you a dime extra, and it helps me to keep providing you with quality information.

Leave a Comment