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Scams to Avoid I know of people who have lost hundreds, even thousands of dollars to scam artists since they began working from home. It doesn't have to be this way. If you do nothing else with this site, I hope you share this page with others so that hopefully fewer people's money will end up lining the pockets of scammers. If you are considering a work at home job, but are unsure whether it is legitimate or not, please read this article. -- Tips on how to Avoid Work at Home Scams I would like to mention that not all of the scams listed below relate to fake "business opportunities", but other ways people try to scam you out of your money. Also, please bookmark this page as I will be making additions as often as I can. First, if you have not already read my article about one of the most common scams out there, please do. Here is the link. You can actually get arrested for getting tangled up in that one. Money Laundering Scam - Read my conversation with one of these scammers. He actually thinks I'm stupid enough to fall for it! Like I'm going to accept a hot check and wire a bunch of my own cash back to him where I can never get it back. Ha! E-Mail Greeting Card Scam - Beware of any e-mails you recieve that say you have recieved a greeting card from a family member, friend, class mate, etc. Some may even have a name attached. Read more about this email to avoid. New E-Mail Scam I'm not even sure what to call this one. I can think of one word to describe it though - sick. I know quite a few people who have already seen this attempt at a scam come through their e-mail inboxes, and it's a new one that I hadn't seen before so I thought I would give you a heads up. I have seen a few different versions, but basically the e-mail is to tell you that someone has paid to have you killed. However, lucky you, the "hit man" has taken pity on you and is willing to spare your life if you give them some money. Sometimes they will say they have a copy of their conversation with whomever hired them. And of course, you are ordered to not contact the police. If you recieve an e-mail like I have described, I encourage you to report it. You can also forward it to me - sarah@homejobsformom.com - so that I can take a screenshot of it for aother to look at. Visit http://www.fbi.gov/cyberinvest/escams.htm and scroll down a bit until you reach the section titled "NEW TWIST CONCERNING THREAT AND EXTORTION E-MAILS". They also give the link to IC3 so that you may report it to them. Please tell your friends! E-Mail Phishing - Phishing is a scam that is meant to steal your identity, usually to gain access to your finances, whether that be your bank account or your credit. Visit this page to learn more about phishing and to see an example phishing email. Jury Duty Scam I'm sure that most of you are aware of the trouble you can get into for missing your jury duty. And nobody wants to be arrested right?! Scammers are fully aware of this and will prey on it. In the jury duty scam, someone will call you pretending to be an employee or some official from your local court offices claming that a warrant has been issued for your arrest since you missed jury duty. Then, they ask for private information so that they may "confirm" that they are really talking to you. Often, out of desperation and hopeful that the person on the phone has you mixed up with someone else the victim rattles off their driver's license number, social security number, birthdate, address, and sometimes even give away their credit card numbers! Here is what I recommend that you do: Tell them to buzz off, or if you have the time insist you will call them back the next day and ask for their name and number. I would be interested to know what they say! If they actually give you a phone number turn it over to the police. No matter what you DO say to them, DO NOT hand over any personal information whatsoever. Anything Asking for Money I have seen hundreds of job offers/opportunities that ask for a small fee for their "training materials" "software" etc. Sometimes these will even show up in Google ads that you see on many sites all over the internet. No matter how tempting it looks, please do not ever pay money to get a job, even if it's only $5! If it really looks like a great deal and you are tempted, post at a public forum, like mine, or www.wahm.com/forum and ask others what they think. Sometimes when we are so desperate for money or to find a real work at home job we are too trusting. The internet is saturated with these scams, but they would go away if people would stop handing them money! Credit Card Scam This scam is a new one to me. In this case, the scammer already has your credit card number, but what they want is the last three numbers on the back of the card so that they can use your information to order goods online. They will call pretending to be from Mastercard, Visa, or some other credit card company. I looked it up on Snopes to check it out; and they say it's true. They also can explain it better than I can; and since I don't want to plagarize, here is the link so you can read it for yourself - Snopes Link Don't ever give someone you don't know ANY of your personal information.