Work at Home Scams on the Rise

While surfing the net I saw a great question posed on the Money Blog Network Forum, but a relatively new user,

Hi Everybody I was wondering if it is worth it working from home, I have been trying to find a job through the papers and a bunch of online job sites but can’t even get a call back I have only 1 friend and he is in the same situation and my family is of no help either I was looking into doing data entry from home is it even worth it or too risky? Any Information would be Greatly Appreciated Thanks so Much!!!!!!!  Full thread HERE

Interestingly, in an article on WSJ.com by author, M.P. McQueen titled, “Job Scams: The Recession Turns Ugly” actually provides an up to date warning!

Consumer-protection and law-enforcement groups and better-business bureaus are reporting a growing number of phony job-recruitment and work-at-home schemes targeting desperate Americans looking for a way to pay the bills

How to Avoid Work at Home Scams

There are some simple tips within the article:

• Don’t give out your social security number
• Research authenticity of employers
• Don’t pay anything up front
• Check with BBB

My Journey’s way of avoiding a scam?  Just google the company’s name with the word scam.  Chances are…you aren’t the first one to be scammed!

The Internet Crime Complaint Center just released the following notice,

Consumers need to be vigilant when seeking employment on-line. The IC3 continues to receive numerous complaints from individuals who have fallen victim to work-at-home scams.

Victims are often hired to “process payments”, “transfer funds” or “reship products.” These job scams involve the victims receiving and cashing fraudulent checks, transferring illegally obtained funds for the criminals, or receiving stolen merchandise and shipping it to the criminals.

Other victims sign up to be a “mystery shopper”, receiving fraudulent checks with instructions to cash the checks and wire the funds to “test” a company’s services. Victims are told they will be compensated with a portion of the merchandise or funds.

Work-at-home schemes attract otherwise innocent individuals, causing them to become part of criminal schemes without realizing they are engaging in illegal behavior.

Job scams often provide criminals the opportunity to commit identity theft when victims provide their personal information, sometimes even bank account information to their potential “employer.” The criminal/employer can then use the victim’s information to open credit cards, post on-line auctions, register Web sites, etc., in the victim’s name to commit additional crimes.

If you have been a victim of Internet crime, please file a complaint at www.IC3.gov.

My Journey to Millions is all about multiple streams of income (although I have none YET) but just be careful!