How To Avoid Getting Scammed

Listed below are some of the most popular and common scams:

1. Nigerian Letter Scam:
This one's been around for many years but continues to flourish. Many of these e-mails claim to be from a person in Africa, usually Nigeria. The writer claims to have access to millions of dollars, either from a relative or from knowledge of an idle account. A percentage of this money is promised to the victim if they will allow the money to be processed through their personal bank account. The victim is instructed to keep their share and send the remaining money to the scammer.

The check given to the victims is fraudulent. The victim is then liable to the bank for the check they wrote to the scammer.

Here's what will happen when you give strangers your bank account information: They will take your money. Period.

2. Phishing Scams:
"Phishing" is a high-tech scam that uses spam or pop-up messages to deceive you into disclosing your credit card numbers, bank account information, Social Security number,
passwords, or other sensitive information.

Phishers send an e-mail or pop-up message that claims to be from a business or organization that you deal with--for example, your Internet service provider (ISP), bank, online payment service, or even a government agency. The message usually says that you need to "update" or "validate" your account information.

Recent phishing victims include Yahoo, Citibank, eBay, Best Buy and Bank of America among others.

If you get spam that is phishing for information, forward it to spam@uce.gov.

3. Chain Letters:
In this classic scam, you're asked to send a small amount of money (usually $5.00) to each of several names on a list, and then forward the letter including your name at the top of the list, via bulk e-mail. Many of these letters claim to be legal. They even include a section of the U.S. Postal Code on illegal schemes. Don't be fooled. They are not legal. And if you participate, not only will you be breaking the law, you'll lose your money as well.

4. Work-At-Home And Business Opportunity Scams:
These scams tempt victims with ads stating "no experience necessary," promise high earnings and claim to have inside information. The scammers usually require victims to pay anywhere from $35 to several hundred dollars or more for information, kits or materials that do not provide the promised results.

Frequently, these schemes involve making handicrafts, stuffing envelopes, medical billing, or state, "Use your home PC to make money fast in your spare time!"

In the craft making or envelope stuffing scam, after paying fees and completing the assembly of the products, victims are told their work is low quality and unworthy of compensation.

Medical billing scams require victims to purchase supplies and lists of doctors who, inevitably don't exist or are not interested in the service.

5. Bulk E-mail Scams:
These solicitations offer to sell you bulk e-mail addresses (spam software) or services to send spam on your behalf. Example: "Reach 100 million websites, $39.95"! The software is usually of poor quality. It's spam and a scam. Don't do it.

6. Auction and retail scams:
These schemes typically offer high-value items, such as Cartier watches, Beanie Babies and computers, in hopes of attracting many consumers. What happens is the victim wins the bid, sends the money and receives nothing or receives products of much lower quality than advertised.

7. Guaranteed Loans or Credit Scams:
This scam comes in a variety of flavors: home equity loans that don't require equity in your home, personal loans regardless of credit history, etc. After you pay the application fees, you receive a letter saying that your loan request was denied. Usually, you never here from these companies again.

8. Credit Repair Scams:
These scams promise to erase accurate, negative information from your credit file so that you can qualify for loans, mortgages, unsecured credit cards, etc. It doesn't work. Not only that. If you follow their advice and lie on loan or credit applications, misrepresent your social security number, or get an Employer Identification Number from the Internal Revenue Service under false pretenses, you will be committing fraud and violating federal laws. Another variation of this scam is the promise of a brand new credit file. Don't do it.

9. Vacation, Sweepstakes And Prize Award Scams:
In these scams you receive notification congratulating you because you've won a fabulous vacation, a car or some other prize award. All you have to do to collect your prize is pay a small fee (usually several hundred dollars). In return, what you end up getting is a toy car, (I kid you not) or a vacation certificate to the Bahamas or some other exotic vacation spot. It's really a lousy deal. You have to pay for your own airfare, and the accommodations that they arrange are usually in rundown hotels. Let the buyer beware!

10. Employment Scams:
Employment scammers take advantage of job seekers. They claim to offer employment services, inside information or inside contacts to jobs. After paying a fee, victims learn they only provide advice, help writing a resume--or less. Some fraudulent employment services simply sell lists of companies that they have gotten from public directories. They usually have not contacted those companies directly or know if there really are any job openings.

11. Multi-level Marketing (MLM) or Network Marketing Scams:
I know I'm going to ruffle a few feathers with this one, so let me just say right now that all MLM or network marketing companies are not scams. Obviously, there are some good, reputable companies out there. However, there are so many bad ones that I'm compelled to include the entire industry on this list. Before getting involved with any MLM or network marketing company, investigate, investigate and then investigate some more. Don't get caught up in the hype. And here's a fact no MLM or network marketing company will ever tell you--not even the legitimate ones: Unless you have outstanding sales ability and/or people skills, it is extremely difficult to make any money in MLM or network marketing.

Here are some other things you should watch out for: Make sure the website you’re visiting contains all three of the following:

1. A real persons name (not just a company or business name)

2. A telephone number

3. A street address (not just a P.O. Box)

If all three of the above are not present, walk away from the offer.

Before purchasing anything, you should always check first to see if the company has had any complaints lodged against it. The following websites publish complaints and/or scams:

http://www.scamwatch.com

http://www.worldwidescam.com

http://www.bbb.org

If you do get scammed, report it to the aforementioned websites immediately. You probably won’t be able to recover your money. Few people ever do. But at least by reporting the crime and making it public record, you make it harder for that company to scam anyone else.

In closing, always carefully investigate any business opportunity, and remember: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

About the author:
Dean Phillips is an Internet marketing expert, writer, publisher and entrepreneur. Questions? Comments? Dean can be reached at mailto: dean@lets-make-money.net
Visit his website at: http://www.lets-make-money.net
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Basic Rules of Scam Baiting

The goals of scam baiting carry the pleasure of baiters and their readers. To that end, a general status symbol among scam baiters is the collection or display of a photographic "trophy," a picture apparently taken of the scammer, typically while holding custom made signs, or in odd poses with exact props (such as placing a fish on one's head). Other trophies could include documents such as oaths and the pseudo legal documents, taken as the 419 scammer as a step forward towards a hopeless goal.

There are handfuls on common sense basic rules, which a scam baiter should follow:

1. The first rules is to have a good anti-virus software running on your system all the time and do keep the virus definitions ready. This is must for any computer which has internet connection but it is most significant for the scam baiting.

2. Make sure you don’t believe in anything, which a scammer tells you until you know it is true. In case scammer tells you “here is my photo” you could argue it isn’t. If on Monday the scammer tells you its Monday, check the calendar. It’s possibly Tuesday.

3. Next you should make sure that you do not give any real personal information to the scammer. This needs to be very obvious. Any actual personal information carries your real name, real address, place of work, real bank account number, and personal e-mail address and so on.

4. Remember you should never go to meet any scammer in person, regardless of their location given. As most scammers are just nothing more than pretty cheat artists, there had been many cases of muggings, kidnappings and also murder of people who had gone to meet with 419 scammers. Please do not do it.

5. And the most important rule is, you should never involve directly any innocent third parties in your scam bait. No matter how much you may hate you boss or your ex-spouse, don’t take revenge through this. You should not take on the identity of any real person existing or do not send a scammer to meet with any real person.

About the Author:
Dany Siraz is an expert in analyzing and describing the spam’s that are making the people to fall as prey without awareness, especially the Nigerian 419 scams. He had published many articles about describing the way of spam producers to fraud the people especially through e-mails, and had advised the best ways and tips to escape from these spam frauds. For further more details of Nigerian 419 scam visit to http://www.nigerianspam.com/
Posted: 13-12-2006
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com

Spam Scams: How Not To Become A Victim

All spam emails we receive every day in tens or hundreds are annoying and disgusting. But the worst of them are scams, hoaxes, and illegal schemes aimed at defrauding you of your money, private information, and even your life. Being aware of how the spam scams work you will be able to protect yourself against the spammers-fraudsters and not to become a victim of their fraudulent schemes.

A lot of spam scams arrive in the form of a great investment offer. It usually works as a Pyramid scheme. Spammers ask you to pay money for a membership, goods, or simply to "invest" promising you much money as revenue. Your revenue will come from those people who will invest after you. Your investment is distributed to those who joined before you. At some point the pyramid ruins because there are not enough new investors to keep the money flowing. The spammer is at the top of the pyramid and he is the only one who benefits. The scan may not always look like an investment offer. The spammers can ask you to distribute some advertising letters to a list of email addresses, for remuneration. Although they will tell you that the list contains only opt-in email addresses, it’s not true, and you will be sending spam directly from your computer.

Another fraudulent scheme you may meet looks like a letter coming from a company that you do business with. Usually the spammer asks you to follow a link within the message supposedly to update your account. But actually this is done to worm you out your personal and financial information. If you click on that link, you will be brought to a page that will look like a company’s web site. While you are logging in or filling the form in, the program is recording your keystrokes and all your private information – account number, user name, password, social security number – is disclosed. Never click on the links included in such emails. Just open a company’s web site in a separate window and check your account details out.

Nigerian spam is one of the most dangerous email scams. The mechanism of the scam is simple. The spammer sends you a badly spelled letter on behalf of a government official, deposed ruler, or relative of a ruling family asking you for help. They have some goods, money, or jewels that they cannot access due to political reasons. They ask you to allow them transfer large sums of money into your bank account. They promise to remunerate you for your kindness, or even leave all money to you. Attractive offer, isn’t it? Don’t be a dolt, don’t believe them. They tempt you into a trap. Their object is to obtain your account number and bank transfer information. They also may ask you to send them a fee to bribe some corrupt government officials. Further you may receive additional officially looking letters where you will be asked to provide further documents, private information, and money. When they have “played” with you long enough, or believe that you may suspect to be led on, they will rob you and quite.

Take care! Don’t react upon any spam message whatever tempting offer it contains. Delete it at once, or let an anti-spam filter delete all spam before you download it into your inbox.

About the Author:
Julia Gulevich is a technical expert associated with development of computer software like AATools, Advanced Email Verifier, G-Lock EasyMail, Spam and Junk Email Filter http://www.glocksoft.com/sc/ More information can be found at Anti Spam Filter Resources http://www.glocksoft.net/sc/.
This article was posted on November 27, 2006
Article Source: articlecity

Phishing – It’s Signs and Your Options

Phishing is the act of some individual sending an email to a user in an attempt to scam the user to release personal information. Is it easy to determine if it’s a scam? Sometimes – but not always. I hope to give you enough examples and information to help you to safeguard yourself from these unsavory individuals.

In addition, sometimes the email is sent to malicious software so as to render your computer helpless. Thus, it is important that you do not click on the link they provide, because that is the trigger that will load the software to your system.

EXAMPLES OF PHISHING

You receive hundreds of emails in your mailbox, but one email catches your eye – it directs you to a website, requesting that you need to update your personal information. It requests such personal information as:

passwords

credit card numbers

social security number

bank account numbers

“It appears to be legitimate”, you say to yourself. And you also notice that the emails are from companies that you have been doing business with for a while. Warning: The website could be bogus.

Here are several examples of phishing in action.

1. E-mails stating they are from E-bay and they feel that your account may have been compromised and would like you to verify your information with they so conveniently supply. DO NOT click on it.

2. E-mails from Paypal or your bank asking that you verify your information because they feel that your account has been compromised, or heaven forbid, suspended. Same scenario, different company. DO NOT click on the link.

3. E-mail that states that an unauthorized transaction has occurred on your account. Please click the link below and confirm your identity. DO NOT.

4. Here’s a work at home scam – We have seen your resume on Monster and feel you would fit our position. If you are interested, please go to our website, look over the experience required and submit your resume if you have this background. Website is professional looking, offer looks good – but it could be a scam.

WHAT ARE THEY AFTER

In the above examples they are after information about you, be it passwords, credit cards, social security numbers, anything that can identify you – and that which they can use to profit from you.

The job email is used to verify that the email address is a true blue, active email address. What do they do with this info – they sell these accounts to spammers for good money. They need to verify your email address—because if the spammers come up empty – this person’s business is dead.

HOW TO VERIFY SAFELY

1. If they want you to verify your account, do not cut and paste, or use the link they provide in the email. Close your Internet session, open a new session and enter the site that you have on record to verify.

2. Emails requesting resumes – Verify their account before you send your resume. When verifying – these red flags should be considered:

1) If they are hesitant to provide a phone number – might be a scam.

2) If their business address is not verifiable –might be a scam.

3) If the website is new – might be a scam.

4) If they use a large company’s name—and that company never heard of them – might be a scam.

5) Again, verify this information before you send your resume.

WAYS TO PROTECT YOURSELF

Here are some quick tips to protect you and your computer system.

1. Use anti-virus software and a firewall – keep them up to date.

2. If you have a broadband connection make sure you have a firewall in place.

3. Don’t email personal or financial information.

4. Before providing personal information – search to see if the site is secure – look for a lock icon. However, remember not all phishers are stupid – in fact, they could be computer savvy enough to forge security icons. Thus, look for a site whose link looks like this: https://www.somename.com -- this shows that it is a secure site.

5. Coupons from respected companies – Verify that it is a true-blue coupon from the company – I had one coupon sent to my email address from what I thought was Staples. Verified it with Staples – not a coupon honored by Staples. When on the Internet – if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it still may not be a duck!

6. When making transactions on the Internet – be it online banking, Paypal, Internet Gold, etc. – complete your transaction, log out of the website, and close out of your Internet Explorer—and then continue with a new session of Internet Explorer.

WHERE TO FORWARD SPAM THAT IS PHISHNG

If you encounter spam that is phishing, or are a victim of a phishing scam, you can forward the information to spam@uce.gov and to the company, bank or organization that the email may have stated they are from. In many cases, the other organizations have information on their website where you can report the attempted scam.

In addition, if you have been scammed, and you wish to file a complaint – go to ftc.gov.

To conclude, no one is immune to spam or a scam. But try to be ever vigilant and do your due diligence with anything you do on the Internet. But being human is a scammer’s hope – they know that most will ignore the bait, but some will be tempted. So, if you so humanly slip, and succumb to a phishing scam, you can report them to ftc.gov.

About the Author:
Vickie J Scanlon has a BBA degree in Administrative Management and Marketing. Visit her site at: www.myaffiliateplace.biz for free tools, articles, ebooks, how to info, affiliate opportunities, products and services – to meet your budget and needs.
Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com

Scams, Spams, Viruses and Spyware - Protecting Yourself Online

On the Internet, there's so much to see and do. You can communicate, shop, play and learn. It's a veritable treasure trove of information and activities for just about anyone of any age. Unfortunately, just like in the real world, everything also has a downside. For the Internet, that downside includes, scams, spam, viruses and spyware. Basically, people who want to take advantage of you. This article will give you some basics for protecting yourself online.

Scams

One of the worst scams comes to you via email, in the form of "phishing" emails. They come to you in the form of an email from banks, eBay, a store, Paypal or other business or financial institution. The email will have the name of the company in the from area and the email may look real, complete with corporate logos and official sounding text. Don't be fooled, however. A reputable financial institution or business will never ask you for your username, password, account number or other sensitive personal information via email. NEVER click on the link to the site provided in their email. If you are unsure if the email is fake, then open up your browser and manually type in the URL of the company's website. Go there and login and see if they are requesting something from you there. Chances are, they aren't. You can report these emails or simply delete them.

Other scam emails may come to you from foreign countries asking you to hold a large sum of money for them, in return you get a percentage of the money, usually millions of dollars. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. This scam has been around for years, don't fall for it. It's just a way to get your bank account information and to empty it before you even realize what has happened.

Scam websites are also a problem, whether it's a fly by night store, a phony eBay seller or a store that's actually just trying to get you to give them your personal information for marketing purposes, you can easily avoid these by checking eBay feedback, store reviews via Google and the BBB and other consumer complaint websites.

The solution to scams? Be vigilant. Never click a URL in an email that looks the least bit suspicious. Always check the feedback, reviews and ratings of sellers before buying and never, ever give away your personal information to a website that looks suspicious.

Spam

Spam can be a huge problem if you have had your email address for any length of time. No matter how well you protect your email address by not giving it out to anyone you don't know, you're still going to get spam. You can, however, minimize the time you spend dealing with spam by adjusting the options in your ISP or web mail preferences section. For most web email addresses, like Yahoo Mail, Gmail and Hotmail, you can adjust or train the spam filters so that spam rarely makes it to your main inbox but instead ends up in your Bulk Mail or Junk Mail folder. For AOL users, they have a similar Spam Mail folder and email options which you can adjust to your liking. For stand alone email programs using POP email boxes, any good email program will have spam and junk mail filters as well as allow you to set rules for which mail is deleted, flagged or sent in to the Junk Mail folder according to preferences you set. If you still have a problem, you may consider a third party program like MailWasher at mailwasher.net or SingleFin from singlefin.net. Both programs are free and should help solve or minimize your spam problem.

Viruses

Viruses are a common problem if you spend any time online. That greeting card attachment your friend forwarded you contained more than a greeting card, you've now got a virus! Viruses can slow your computer down, slow down your web surfing or they can do more serious damage like relay sensitive information like your bank login information to a hacker or at the worst end, erase your entire hard drive! To prevent these problems, you should never open attachments unless it's been scanned by a virus program first, also don't download any files from suspicious websites, stick to the well known download sites instead, like download.com. To help keep your computer clean of viruses, download and install one of the many anti-virus programs available. Some good ones are AVG Free Anti-Virus, from grisoft.com and Avast Anti-Virus from avast.com. Both programs are free and will automatically check for new versions of their virus databases so you are protected from existing and new viruses.

Spyware

Spyware is also a common problem that can slow your computer down tremendously and run programs on your computer without you even knowing. Spyware can come from websites, even well known and reputable websites but usually spyware is contained in certain free programs, like games and software that is free due to banner ads or other advertising inside the program. Since spyware can slow down your computer, it's a good idea to download and install at least one program that will protect you from spyware. Two good ones are Spyware Doctor from pctools.com and Ad-Aware SE from lavasoft.de.

Once you have downloaded and installed your anti-virus and spyware protection software, be sure to schedule a full scan of your computer often, at least once a week or more to help keep your computer running fast and smooth.

About the Author:
Lydia Quinn writes for PaidSurvey24.com, a free and comprehensive paid survey directory list. Visit us at: http://www.paidsurvey24.com.
This article was posted on November 21, 2006
Article Source: articlecity

Common Spam Emails

Spam comes in many forms and spammers will pull out all the stops to try to trick you into clicking on their email and hopefully making a purchase. Below are some of the most common forms that spam comes in – how many of them do you recognize?

Application Accepted – These emails are supposed to make you think that your loan or other application has been accepted. Of course, you won’t be fooled by this if you never applied for anything online.

Business Opportunity - These are the emails that claim you can make thousands with little effort. Like most anything else, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.

Chain Letters - Do you have a friend that relentlessly forwards you these emails? Not only do they suck up internet bandwidth and disk space, but they can potentially be a way for spammers to get your email address.

Magical Health Products - Magical diet pills and miracle cures are just hype and the products don’t usually match up to their claims.

Free Stuff - You’ve probably figured out by now that nothing in life is free. Usually these free offers require you to join a site with a monthly fee or have so many restrictions that you never actually get your “free” gift.

Loans and Credit Repair - You can apply for your own loan and repair your credit yourself. No one else will be able to work any special magic that you can’t do on your own.

About the Author:
Lee Dobbins
Visit http://www.spam-canned.com to find out more about spam and how you can protect your email address. Browse the free article database at http://www.spam-canned.com/spamarticles1.html
Article Source: www.iSnare.com

Don't Get Caught By This Stock Tips Spam Scam.

Spam emails have been the scourge of the Internet for a number of years now and the problem is still growing despite legislation, zealous spam filters and all sorts of clever techniques to prevent it.

I'm sure that most of us have been subject to unsolicited email messages (spam) promoting medications, virility enhancers, impotence cures, mortgages, loan consolidation schemes, gambling and pornography to mention just a few.

Now we have a another subject hitting our inboxes - the unsolicited "hot stock tip" or to give it it's more meaningful description, the "Pump and Dump" scam.

If you're not familiar with the term "Pump and Dump", let me explain how it applies to spam email...

"Pump and Dump" scams are email campaigns offering "hot stock tips" designed to engineer a buying frenzy for a particular company's shares, thus rapidly inflating the stock's market value. The spammers (read "scammers") then dump their shares back into the market and make a fast exit with their profits from the artificially inflated price.

Once the scammers have dumped their shares and stop promoting (pumping) the stock, the price drops rapidly and investors lose their money.

This is not a new scam by any means. "Pump and Dump" schemes have been around in the offline world for a long time. However, the Internet, and in particular email, has added a whole new dimension to this scam, making it simpler and cheaper to promote these "hot stocks" to vast numbers of potential investors.

How do you recognise these "Pump and Dump" scams for what they are?

Generally speaking it's relatively simple. These "hot stock" promotions usually centre around a company whose shares are traded for just pennies on the Over-The-Counter (OTC) market where "normal" trading in them is extremely modest. In addition to this there is often little or no information available about the company.

The reason this type of company is favoured by the scammers is because it's a lot easier to manipulate the stock prices, and the returns for the scammers can be hundreds of percentage points above the starting price when they dump their shares back into the market and take their profits.

Hundreds of percentage points above the starting price!

This sounds like a great way to make money - right?

Well for the scammers it certainly is. But what about those investors who are "not" part of the scam?

This is where the problem lies and the big losses are made. Why? Because those investors outside the scam never know when the "Pumpers" are going to "Dump" their stock and leave the price to plummet back to it's normal trading levels, resulting in losses for a large number of investors.

So how do you avoid getting ripped off by these scam artists?

To my mind that's quite simple. Most reputable companies don't use spam as a marketing tool, so you can be pretty certain that if you received the "hot stock tip" unsolicited it's from a "Pump and Dump" scammer. Just delete the email and save your money for a legitimate investment.

About The Author:
Andre Anthony owns and operates 101 Online Trading a resource for online investors. Visit http://www.101onlinetrading.com today to find strategies, tips, tools, products and resources for effective online trading. For Real-time Stock Picks that will allow you to trade like a Pro subscribe to : http://www.101onlinetrading.com/sl/soler-stock-picks.htm
Submitted: 2006-10-27
Article Source: GoArticles

Those Very Naughty Scamming-Spamming Nigerians

"Dear Friend, As you read this, I don't want you to feel sorry for me, because, I believe everyone will die someday. My name is MR Adada Muhammadu a Crude Oil merchant in Iran…"

Am I the only one on the planet that finds it incredible that people actually are gullible enough to fall for these scams that spam us almost daily? I get at least two of these per day, per email account. I have six email accounts so you do the math.

I've been told, much to my utter surprise, that I am secretly related to Arab and African Kings who have died and left me with the princely sum of $15,000,000 dollars. And now, their lawyers (sometimes the writer misspells the word, lawyer) want to give it to me, as the sole heir, if only I fork over all my bank account numbers and passwords.

I've been told that my parents weren't really my parents and that I was sired by King Konan, King Corona, Ali Baba and his forty thieves, and of course, Adada Muhammadu. They even go as far to say I have the same last names as they do and that they can prove it with secret adoption papers. All of these "gentlemen" left me a king's fortune and all I need to do to claim it is turn over all my bank records.

These vile scammsters are operating all over the globe and aren't necessarily in Nigeria. They are found in U.S. and Canadian cities. It makes one wonder why at least our government can't close the Spammers down!

The hideous truth is that people (some Americans) do fall for this scamming.

I recall, sometime ago, a young man in his early twenties, who fell for this and gave more than $40,000.00 of the family savings to one of these scams. You see, it not only involves you turning over confidential financial records for the promise of millions but certain "administrative fees" are always needed according to these robbers.

This kid, once he figured out he threw away his family's savings, went to Nigeria looking for his money, and was never heard from again. Foul play was suspected but his body never turned up.

So, when you get an email telling you to turn over to some total stranger all of your financial secrets and whatever you have in your savings account for the promise of riches, what do you do? First, if you actually are tempted to do it, get your head examined.

Otherwise, hit the spam-block key and go to the next email. King Konan, Corona, and Ali Babba and his forty thieves will understand.

They are supposed to be dead anyway.

They won't care.

THE PLAIN TRUTH ABOUT LIVING IN MEXICO

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About The Author:
Douglas Bower
Expatriates Doug and Cindi Bower have successfully expatriated to Mexico, learning through trial and error how to do it from the conception of the initial idea to driving up to their new home in another country. Now the potential expatriate can benefit from their more than three years of pre-expat research to their more than three years of actually living in Mexico.
http://www.zyworld.com/theolog/amazon2/Page3.htm
Article Submitted On: October 18, 2006
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Five Scams You'll Want To Avoid

Many websites claim to offer home business opportunties. Some people do make money at home through online jobs, but many of these so-called opportunities are scams. How do you know the difference? Here are some tips for avoiding home business scams.

First, use some common sense. If you are looking because you're short on funds, it can be easy to talk yourself into believing the promises you will read online. Try to look at the offers objectively. Many scams try to convince you that you will become wealthy with little effort, and you might even see on the website that this is some "secret" for making money that is just now being revealed. Much later they reveal the cost for learning the secret. Before buying this kind of information, take a moment to wonder why it's being sold. If it's really that effective, the person selling it should be wealthy and not need to sell anything.

Second, don't get involved in a pyramid scheme. These are programs that pay you to recruit but don't really have a product to sell. You make money by getting other people to join the system. This only works for those who start the pyramid scheme, and is illegal in several states. Note that this is not the same as home party or similar plans where you get a percentage from what you sell in addition to a percentage from those you recruit.

Third, don't pay to stuff envelopes or make products. In fact, don't pay to work for anybody.

Forth, getting paid to do Survey's. While some companies may pay you, I have found that the majority do not. They offer a entery into a sweepstakes where "you could win" but in my experience the sweepstakes even has a catch as well where if you do win they want you to pay a registration fee of let's say $600.00 then you will get the "All inclusive trip for 2 to the Bahama's". Don't buy into it. There are way better things to waste your time on.

And lastly, anything with the word "Blaster" in it is a SCAM, unless you want your email filling up with spam don't do it. I had a campaign with Ad Blaster and I'm still unsubscribing to spammers.

Avoiding home business scams means avoiding anything that offers easy wealth. It also means avoiding paying to work for somebody. Don't expect anything online that makes no sense in the real world. Don't get scammed.

About the Author:
Brice Mattson
To Get the Best Internet Home Businesses, Work at Home Ideas and Opportunities visit: www.siriusfreehomebiz.com
Article Source: NewFREEArticles.com