Better Business Bureau Work at Home Scams list - Virtual Assistant Forums

Tess · #1 (**permalink**) 01-21-2008

I ran across this tonight and thought having the link in our scam library might be helpful.

Click here for the BBB's list of Work From Home Scams and relative info.

A few quick tips from their page:
A Work-at-Home Scheme Promoter will:

Never offer you regular salaried employment.
Promise you huge profits and big part-time earnings.
Use personal testimonials but never identify the person so that you could check with them.
Require money for instructions or merchandise before telling you how the plan operates.
Assure you of guaranteed markets and a huge demand for your handiwork.
Tell you that no experience is necessary.
Take your money and give you little or nothing in return except heartbreak and grief.

To learn more about Work-at-Home Schemes, contact the following:

Your Local Better Business Bureau
Direct Marketing Association
Federal trade commission at 202.382.4357
National Fraud Information Center at 1-800-876-7060
U.S. Postal Inspection Service

#2 (**permalink**) 01-29-2008

Thank you for sharing Tess. I come across these types of solicitations ALL THE TIME and they usually read exactly how you've identified them! Luckily for me, a red flag immediately goes up any time someone wants me to pay them something in order to work! Still the same, the ads, emails, etc. that they use are very, very convincing and I am sure that there are countless people who have fallen victim to these scams.

Gems Virtual Office · #3 (**permalink**) 01-29-2008

Great information that everyone should be aware of Tess....thanks for posting

MaryH · #4 (**permalink**) 01-29-2008

Thank you for this post, Tess. This is always something to keep in the back of our minds. "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

#5 (**permalink**) 05-09-2008

I've been scammed a few times but it was only a few dollars. Anything that was expensive I said no to. I agree with MaryH. If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is. Try to find out more information if possible. Never give your money up unless you know everything there is to know about the product or service you are buying.

#6 (**permalink**) 05-09-2008

Thank you for that list. I am super cautious and yet still got scammed, scammers are getting better at what they do! I never did get that "pay me to hire you"..lol

MegBarberVA · #7 (**permalink**) 05-09-2008

That's a great list Tess! I'm adding it to my resources in my new VA blog.

Meg

kathiemt · #8 (**permalink**) 05-09-2008

Another thing to add to that list Tess is that real employers never go sending bulk email to find employees. They simply advertise and candidates come to them. Why would they waste time, effort (and possibly money) collating a list to send out to heaps of people? They just don't.

smw1974 · #9 (**permalink**) 06-06-2008

Great info....there is so much garbage out there. I hate to think of all the good people who get burned everyday.

Sara

MTaggart · #10 (**permalink**) 09-07-2008

Thank you for sharing this information. I get emails all the time and it is so tempting.

#11 (**permalink**) 09-15-2008

Hi Tess,

Thank you so much for sharing this information. I receive a lot of these emails about various careers, not just the VA world. I can only imagine how many people have fallen prey to this. A lot of them seem very convincing but as some of you have already said..."If it's too good to be true..."

VA4Hire · #12 (**permalink**) 09-23-2008

Thanks for posting - I recently found a scam (I believe it is) from getafreelancer.com. A real estate company is looking for a VA and they send you the link to get a user name to be able to log into their system. When you go to the site it cost $39.99 a month with a 14 day free trial. I emailed the guy who offered me the job and he said he didn't know he set up his website like that to ask for credit cards and charge a monthly fee and that he didn't know any other way of doing things to be able to have a conference call with the other VA's he wished to hire. The job sounded too good to be true to start with, so that should've been a heads up for me, but it wasn't.

Thanks again for posting this.

chaucer · #13 (**permalink**) 09-23-2008

Originally Posted by cyewing

Thank you for sharing Tess. I come across these types of solicitations ALL THE TIME and they usually read exactly how you've identified them! Luckily for me, a red flag immediately goes up any time someone wants me to pay them something in order to work! Still the same, the ads, emails, etc. that they use are very, very convincing and I am sure that there are countless people who have fallen victim to these scams.

Loads of these have come my way too. And yes, they can be very very convincing.

chaucer · #14 (**permalink**) 09-23-2008

Originally Posted by eliteoffice

Hi Tess,

Thank you so much for sharing this information. I receive a lot of these emails about various careers, not just the VA world. I can only imagine how many people have fallen prey to this. A lot of them seem very convincing but as some of you have already said..."If it's too good to be true..."

I guess that about sums it up...'if it's too good to be true.....'

PastorPerks · #15 (**permalink**) 12-20-2008

This is wonderful info. Thank you for sharing this.