I am still considered new at this as I am in the beginning stages and have not had work yet. So I wanted to make this post out here for newbies like me trying to find work.

I have been online every day, putting my resume and looking for work on lots of various sites. Everywhere from Elance, Monster.com, Careerbuilders.com and everywhere else I can find.
I received a email back yesterday that someone was interested in my services and wanted me to instant message them on Yahoo along with giving me their email address for an online interview.
Without going into boring details, I found out the company that was trying to hire me was Aetna (insurance company in CT). This lady informed that that I just need to western union $312 for the accounting program MYOB and they would send me an HP computer where I would receive a week long training and all work is done online. Red flags stood up in quite a few areas so I called the HR dept in CT for Aetna and found out this is in fact all fraudulent and have their investigating group on it. I was not the only one.

With today's age and everything being online, it is so sad to me that I know there are a lot of people applying for this position, anxiously awaiting a job when if fact they just lost out on their money.

Bottom line: It hurts people like us who are trying to make a living with the skills of computer work and with everything being online, there are those individuals trying to scam even the best of us.

If you feel a red flag, do more research and listen to your instincts so you don't get burned...

Hi Jade, sorry to hear you had to deal with this. It's good you were aware and sensible about what they were offering. There are so many scams out there and they often target those who wish to work from home.

There's a section here on VAF called Work at Home Scams where VAs document their interactions with just this type of scam, so that others can be forewarned - it's a great place to check as well.

Wishing you success in finding your first ideal client (it will come!)

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Jade thank goodness you had the common sense to check it out thoroughly. Unfortunately this type of thing is rampant. I often post a flyer online and get emails "tell me about your business" from some weird email address or the other (perhaps they can't read?) along with emails offering all sorts of wonderful work from home and make tons of money emails. And then there are the ones that come from every financial institution out there needing me to log in and confirm all my personal information ... you're kidding me, right?Some days my delete key gets a good workout .

Even when I receive an email from what appears to be a prospective client I check them and their business/company out thoroughly and run the name(s) through a scam search before I respond. Sadly we have to be so very careful these days.

Lynne

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The Wordpro Wizard
www.wordprowizard.com

Thanks so much Tess. I didn't even see that section. I am really hoping new members see this post so they can see that someone else doesn't have to go through what I am. And thanks for the input Lynne.

Aetna was so very nice and emailed me back saying this was a Nigerian scan and I should report it to the following website.
http://ftc.gov/jobscams

Is also has some good information about different scams going on out there, even with a section about work at home jobs.

Luckily, I am a pretty leery person. This is also not the only scam I have ran across in the last couple of days. But the only one I can confirm.
Thank guys....