5 ways to spot a work at home scam

FlexJobs provided us with five ways to avoid these fake  work at home job scams!  Trust your gut if it sounds too good to be true it probably is 

1. Never Pay for an Interview

The company may want you to pay them to train you, purchase software or invest in some way in order to get the job. Legitimate companies won’t make you spend money in order to work for them.

Often, legitimate job postings will list the equipment or specific software you need or provide it as a part of training once you are hired. You can usually find this information in the job listing.

For example Uhaul often hires work at home workers  here are some of their requirements 

The following technical requirements must be met to work from home:

*Computer requirements and internet speed will be verified as part of the interview process.

Have a non-wireless USB headset with a microphone.

Have a web cam for use interacting with your manager. Not for use with customers.

Have minimum Internet speed requirements: 10MB down / 5MB up

Windows or Mac OS allowed;

If Windows then Windows 10 is required.

If Mac then Mojave or newer is required.

Minimum RAM requirements: 8GB of RAM or greater.

Work at Home By Teaching English Online

2. Watch Out for the Type of Interview the Company Offers

Usually, companies will do in-person, phone or video chat interviews. If the business you apply to only wants to conduct interviews via online chat, be careful.

A huge red flag for instant message interviews is when the company doesn’t ask many in-depth questions about your skills or offers you the job immediately.

Pressuring you to accept their offer quickly is another bad sign. A scammer might try to get you to act without thinking, so always take a step back and consider if this offer is too good to be true.

However, some major companies like Amazon have been known to do chat interviews with people applying for specific customer service positions. Doing a lot of research about the company before your interview is vital, especially if they only want to conduct interviews over chat.

3. Look for a Detailed Job Description

Real jobs need people with specific skills, so companies will lay them out in a real listing. If a job description looks vague, only highlights benefits or has noticeable grammatical errors, it’s likely illegitimate.  I  often call these vague ones that you are posting a job link for others to pay call mailbox money scams.  

Benefits highlighted will usually be things like how much money you’ll get for relatively little work.

Another red flag here could be a lack of responsibilities listed in the posting. A real company will tell you what work they expect you to perform as an employee.

4. Research the Company!

This is extremely important during any job hunt. Typing the company name and the word “scam” into a search engine is a simple way to find out if a company is legitimate.

You should be able to find reports from the FBI or FTC and Better Business Bureau ratings. You can also look for forums where people post experiences with a company.

A company’s website can also tell you if they’re legitimate or not with a quick glance. If the site has grammatical errors or weird punctuation scattered throughout, it’s probably a scam.

5. Ask a Lot of Questions

Another simple and effective way to spot a scam is to ask questions like:

Why did this position become available?

What are the key qualifications?

How long has the business existed?

Who are some of your clients?

If you get a bad feeling or the interviewer struggles to answer, you probably want to ditch this company.

Another common scam is where they will send you a check or payment for equipment and ask for the difference we had someone report this one 

Below is one of the messages from him regarding the equipment. Does this look legitimate?

The funds for the software's cost ($1,958.00 Dollars) The company will provide you the Funds for the software's by a Scanning Company check Sent to your email, you will print it out the check with your printer , cut the edges of the check both the front and back Cut it into shape then you will endorse the back of the check and sign, snap the front and back of the check with your Mobile banking app for mobile Check deposit directly into your account with your online banking App , The Funds will be process and available in your account and ready for use, you are to deduct $115.00 as your sign on bonus and the rest of the funds will be for use to purchase of your working software's. I will be here to refer you to the vendor whom you will be making the purchase from. Do you understand this part?

Finally!   trust your gut. If you think something is fishy for even a moment: Stop, think and research.  Also ask in our facebook group, I am really good about being a detective and can usually spot even the smartest con artist out there.  

Easy Mailbox Money Scam

One scam I keep on seeing is  Easy Mailbox money  called in this case  Lucartive Mail Box  Money  first of all work shouldnt be too easy its called work for a reason.  If it sounds too good to be true, it probabily is.   It's a new spin on the stuffing envelope scam.  

Here is a typical pitch 

⭐⭐⭐‼CHECK IT OUT Must Read‼⭐⭐⭐

Looking to make extra income?
TRY THIS 👉 Get Paid to Mail Letters 📨📬💵

❌NO Gimmicks
❌NO experience needed
❌NO need to be computer savvy
❌NO logging into back offices
❌NO need to go live. Unless, you want to educate others about the company and how they too can make an extra income by Mailing letters!

And the BEST part,
✅ONE TIME FEE to join‼ That’s right.  (YEAH the one time fee is anywhere from $250-1k and then need to buy leads basically you are selling your the same list) 
🚫NO MONTHLY fees to stay active.
✅REMARKABLE opportunity 💯😊👍

So, if you can put a stamp on it, you can do this! If your Interested and Want More Information Let me Know‼Don’t let this opportunity slip


Please be careful dont waste your time with these things you will only be losing money. 

Mom out thousands of dollars after internet job scam

Working in the hair salon is one of Stephanie Oliver's two jobs. A month ago, she picked up a third one.

"I found an ad on Indeed and it was for a work at home position. I already have a part-time job in the morning and a full-time job. So, I was trying to just make extra money," Oliver said.

Fake Check Scams and Work at home jobs

Oliver worked from home, inputting medical billing codes onto a website for The Good Feet Store in Texas. Or, so she thought.

"I talked to him on the phone. It seemed legit. It was Indeed, it wasn't Craigslist. I feel like it was a legit job," Oliver said.

Oliver was supposed to be paid three times by Paul Andersen, who claimed to work for The Good Feet Company.

She did receive two separate cash payments totaling $750. The last payment, a check for over $2,900, never cleared her bank account.

"I called the place, the Good Feet Store in Texas, asked for him. They said they did not know of him," Oliver said.

After paying for bills with the money she thought she had. Checks are bouncing, now she's out over $2,000.

"I'm just going to have some fun money for my kids. That's just why I did it. It's being returned and there's nothing I can do about it," Oliver said.

Andersen would not answer our calls, he blocked Oliver's number, his website has gone dark and the ad is gone.

Cherie Reese from the Better Business Bureau of Kansas City said things like this happen all the time.

"For scam artists, this is their job. They want to look as legitimate as possible. They're going to go through legitimate websites like Indeed. They'll have their own website that looks incredible," Reese said.

Beware of these common work-at-home scams

Reese said to protect yourself, you have to do your homework first. She suggests going to a company you know is real. If you have someone approaching you about working from home, say no.

Mystery shopper scam involving Walmart gift cards

 A secret shopper scam is no mystery to a Virginia man, and he is reaching out to warn consumers before they get ripped off, WWBT reported.

 Brad Beatty said he was sent a priority overnight envelope containing a $2,900 cashiers check. The note in the letter congratulated him for being selected for Secret Shopper, a program that rewards shoppers for spending the money and then sending in a survey about experience.

As Beatty warns, there is no such thing as free cash.“Nobody is going to send you $2,900 to do them a favor,” Beatty told WWBT. “They're making you feel like you're doing a deal and getting paid for it, but you're not, because they're going to take that money right away.


“When the bank finds that the check is (a) fraud, they're going to take it out of your savings, and you're out of the money.”The letter instructed Beatty to keep $400 and use $2,500 to buy five $500 Walmart gift cards, WWBT reported. Then he was told to take a picture of those cards, peel the silver scratch-off from the back, and then email the photos along with a survey about his shopping experience.Beatty said he received a text message that said he would receive a $100 bonus if he completed his assignment in a certain time frame. He said he was not sure how someone got his mailing address and cellphone number, but added that he has been contacted several time since the envelope showed up at his home.

“If they give out 10,000. I bet 50 to 100 people will do it and lose money,” Beatty told WWBT. “I don't want to see anyone lose their money”A search on the Better Business Bureau's scam tracker shows there have been 750 reported “Secret Shopper” scams in the United States. On Walmart's website, there is a page dedicated to Fraud Alerts -- one of them warns against mystery shoppers. Walmart says it doesn’t “utilize these services or hire associates to perform services on behalf of other retailers or companies.” Beatty preaches caution.“Just be very careful and check things out before you go cashing checks,” he told WWBT.

Fake Check Scams and Work at home jobs

How Fake Check Scams Work

Basically, the person running the scam convinces the victim to cash a check and then send, via wire transfer, a portion of the money to another location. (The portion kept by the victim is payment of a commission or prize.)

However, the check (or money order) is a very convincing fake, and it will take the victim’s bank some time to discover that the check is no good. U.S. banks are required to make funds available within a few days, but it can take weeks for a fraudulent check to be discovered. However, wire transfers happen almost immediately. So the money that has left the victims account is long gone by the time it is discovered that the check is fake.

What a Fake Check Scam Looks Like

The variation in these scams come in the reason the victim is asked to cash and then send funds. Many of these are job-related. Beware of these:

• Mystery shopping—Mystery shopping can be legitimate; in fact, it often is. But there is a scam in which a check is sent to cover the cost of purchasing and returning goods, then you are supposed to wire back the money, keeping your cut.
• Payment processing jobs—These jobs can look very real when you apply. You are processing payments for people in other countries. You may even be asked to open a business checking account in your location, but it is in your name and you are on the hook when it is overdrawn.

• Lottery, sweepstakes and inheritance windfalls—You’ve won. A check arrives but the scammer asks that an amount must be sent in for taxes and fees. Seems reasonable but the check was a fake.
• Auction/purchase overpayment—Never accept payment for more than the agreed upon price. This is a very common way to defraud. When you refund the overpayment but keep the agreed-upon amount, later you may find out the check bounced.
• Rental schemes—A new roommate or tenant offers to send you the rent and then some if you forward along a payment to the movers or someone else. Guess who is left with no roommate and an overdrawn account?

• Reshipping jobs—This involves receiving goods to be shipped elsewhere.

Money Laundering and Check Cashing Scams

In addition to losing your money in these kinds of check-cashing schemes, it is possible the victim could go to jail. In reshipping scams or payment processing scams, you could actually receive the money agreed upon, but only because you are participating in money laundering and/or selling stolen goods. In money laundering, the payment might come into the victim’s account via wire or online transfer.

How to Protect Yourself From Check Fraud

It’s simple. Do not cash checks for people you do not know. Do not wire money to people you do not know. There are no legitimate reasons for this.

Beware of these common work-at-home scams

Clark Howard local consumer guru shared some of the scam ideas 

“You’ve got to be careful if you’re looking to work at home. Be sure to avoid the ads in the back of women’s magazines about envelope stuffing, doing medical office paperwork and the like. The one area that has proven legitimate over time is becoming a call center worker from your home.”

Work-at-home scams are always in season, with scammers looking to empty your wallet at a time when it’s already light because of unemployment or reduced hours at work. Here are a few common warning signs to look for:

Social networks are a hot spot for work-at-home danger. 
One company called Easy Tweet Profits claims you can make up to $873/day online. They even claim one person earned $400,000/year using their method of tweeting your way to success. The catch? By signing up for their program you agree to be charged just under $50 per month! There are a whole host of other companies with similar names (usually involving “make money” or “make profits”) that suggest social networking can be a cash cow. But their game is all the same: Whether you’re talking about something you see on Craigslist, eBay, Facebook, Twitter or whatever’s the next hot thing, you’ve got to be wary.

Phony job listings on legit job-hunting websites. 
One fraudulent group was listing fake jobs on CareerBuilder, which is an otherwise respectable site. The group was charging a big fee for a background check before consideration of any applicants. Federal, state and local authorities received more than 17,000 complaints filed by people who were ripped off by this particular group. And that’s just the number of people who found their way to complain. Who knows how many others were taken?

Pitches to be your own boss. 
Our Consumer Action Center is hearing from a lot of callers who go to help-wanted sites, find an opportunity that looks good and then contact the supposed employer. It turns out to be a pitch for owning your own business, with promises of huge money. Unfortunately, the only ones making money are the people pushing startup kits and related costs.

Circum News New Work at home job alert scam

I came across Circumnews when someone on my facebook page alerted me to it asking it if it was a good website to join to earn some extra money .  My scam alert often goes up when something sounds too easy it usually is. 

The company claims that they will pay you $2 to $5 for every written piece of news that you read. Really? That means you can earn   $100 just by reading twenty articles.. If it sounds too good to be true it usually is.  . This website looks very shady.

However, after checking out the website of Circumnews, I'm very disappointed. There are red flags everywhere. It just looks very unprofessional and spammy. In addition, several people said that they have gotten viruses yet. 


I did not sign up because at this point I think Circumnews is either a scam . I get it that news providers would pay people to read their content but the pay rate is just TOO much . If they're really paying that much then they'd be losing money. I'm not signing up with Circumnews until I see a substantial number of people getting paid by them.  People are claming they have earned money but no one has actually gotten paid 

Here is why I haven't signed up with them  
1. No address and contact details.
2. No privacy policy.
3. Bad-looking website with bad grammar.
4. They only pay via Paypal and Payza.
5. People reporting malware and viruses 

Stay away from Circumnews until they've proven themselves that they are legit.

Not a scam, but not a job either

A recent ad I came across that poses itself as a work at home job.

Want to make extra money? You don’t have to pay a fee because this is to make money, not lose it. All you need is an email account and an internet connection. The company sends you email ads, you read them, and get paid.


More than likely this is what it is: You'll email them that you're interested. They'll email you back that they'll need a small fee for "training materials" No matter what they said in the ad -- they need to get your attention & pull you in. Those training materials is nothing more than instructions on how to place ads like the one you read, get people in to paying you a fee then sending them the same instructions. That's all it is.

Or this is a get paid to read emails You only earn pennies... if that. Not a job that's for sure.