Shades of Black UK

In times of recession it’s easy to believe that there are people out there willing to give you a leg up.  If you’ve lost your job through redundancy you may be feeling a little dejected. You might be thinking that it’s time you set up on your own, maybe work from home.

The internet has hundreds of pages of information about working from home and with a clear head you should be able to spot the genuine opportunities.  But when you’re desperate and the job applications offer one rejection after another, it’s easy to lose sight of what’s real.

There is an assortment of work from home scams that are listed in newspapers, sent to you through email, and posted on job boards. They claim that you can earn hundreds of pounds a day doing simple things like stuffing envelopes or data entry.

From the Nigerian 419 money email, assembly work, envelope stuffing to the data entry opportunities, let’s face it folks, if it sounds too good to be true, deep down you know it is. Some these scams go as far as obtaining your credit card information to steal your identity! See tips for spotting a scam.

Tips for spotting a scam

These are just a few of the many scams that you will find on the internet and could become a potential victim to. These advertisers are looking for desperate people especially stay-at-home moms who are dying to continue staying home with their children or are in a difficult financial position. It is important for you to be an informed and know what to look for in a work from home scheme. Here are a few tips that should help make a work from home scam more apparent:

• The advertiser is using ALL CAPITAL LETTERS with lots of exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WOULD LOOK SOMETHING LIKE THIS!!!!!!!!!

• They claim that you can make hundreds or thousands of pounds a day with no experience needed and minimal effort is needed in order to achieve this financial miracle.

• There is a fee in order for you to apply. This fee is for training materials, a membership into a work from home club or for a transaction fee and it is an obscure company that you have never heard of. If there is a fee involved, chances are that you are being scammed. If you are applying for jobs in your area you are not charged transaction fees in order to submit your resume to a job so you shouldn’t be charged for one for a work from home job.

• The advertisement doesn’t lists a company or any information that you can check into. They don’t give you any contact information other than a first name and a number where you can leave a message. A job listing shouldn’t be a mysterious advertisement unless there is something to hide. Be very leery of these types of advertisements.