Hey everyone,

I was reading this article and thought it would be helpful for all of us when we are creating our ads, flyers...etc. to make them look like real opportunities and not scams (because online there are so so many). Hope it helps!

Work at Home Job Scams
 
 
The Five Clues of Work at Home Job Scams
Most of us would love to work at home. The scammers know that and take full advantage of it. Because legitimate work at home jobs are hard to come by, the scammers lead us to believe that we can buy the privilege. These predators count on a new sucker being born every minute, and thrive on the naive, wishful and desperate. Stay-at-home moms, the elderly, and physically-challenged people who need money most are among their prime prey. Scammers have no ethics.

Clue 1
Your first clue that it's a work at home scam is the fact it's advertised at all, as previously indicated. Whether it's in the back of a tabloid, on a Web site, by email, or even in TV Guide, you can safely assume that all such "opportunities" are scams or at best, schemes.

MAKE THOU$AND$
WORKING AT HOME IN YOUR SPARE TIME!
Legitimate homed-based opportunity!
We've helped thousands of people just like you get started.
Send for FREE details NOW...
 

Clue 2
Your second clue is the tacky overuse of punctuation!!!, $ymbols and UPPERCASE characters, all designed to catch your ad-scanning eye. The ads incorporate eye-catching key words and phrases too, such as free, no work, no special skills required, and get out of bed when you want to. But what type of business truly gives away anything for free or hires lazy, no-account, unskilled employees? Legitimate job ads don't include such. For example, when was the last time you saw a job ad like this?

TECH WRITERS!!!
Make THOU$AND$ at IBM!
Work when and where you want!
FREE job application...
 

Clue 3
Your third clue is exaggeration. It doesn't bother scammers at all to bait their potential victims with the absurd, such as checks rolling in effortlessly to the tune of $10,000 per month. If it sounds too good to be true, it is.

Clue 4
Your fourth clue is ambiguity. If it's a real job, then why don't they just tell you what it is, like legit employers do? Again, it's all part of the baiting campaign. Mystery feeds curiosity. The type of "job" and what's involved is not fully apparent until after you pay the fee. It's only then you'll discover you've been duped.

Clue 5
The fee is your fifth and most important clue, as parting you from your money is exactly what scams are about. Legitimate employers don't charge you to work for them, period. Would IBM charge you a fee to telecommute for them?

Look for the clues in bulletin-board (forum) message threads, too. Some will resemble the tacky ads above, so it's a no-brainer that they are scams, now that you know. But others are more cleverly disguised as "normal" conversations. It may appear that a few people just got together to casually discuss the "wonderful opportunity" they've found, when in fact, they're scammers and shills working together to bait you. It might also appear that someone simply inquired about work at home or telecommuting jobs, and others came to his or her "rescue." But sometimes, the people posting the inquiries are nothing more than ropers, in cahoots with rescuing scammers. People often do legitimately ask about such, but forum-lurking scammers are poised to pounce as rescuers in that case, too. Originally legitimate or not, message threads that probably include scams have titles similar to those below.

Is this a scam?
This changed my life!
Perfect Job for Moms!
Finally!!! A REAL Job!!!
I was so darned sick of scams!
Need to work from my home PC.
Is there a real telecommuting job?
 

 

I have been doing a lot of research online about home businesses and the top picks, and I have been reading tons of reviews and honestly, GDI hasn't gotten very good ones.  I am getting very skeptical now because there are about three home businesses that are actually cheaper than GDI and have gotten really good reviews from tons of different sites.  I was just wondering if anyone else is feeling this way.  I mean, I would like to hear from people who are in this forum and making a substantial income, and not just the top sellers that are making all the money.  Thanks!!! (Just don't want to waste anymore time or money!)

I was thinking of ways to distribute the DVD and was wondering if anyone had ideas?  I was in line at Best Buy about a month ago and while I was in line waiting to checkout I noticed a batch of Free AOL DVDS and was wondering if we could do something like that?  Any feedback?

Hi, my name is Kimberly and I am so excited because today is the end of my first week and I finally got my first downline!  I was writing a message to her to say "welcome" and tell her to contact me with questions and to visit the Forum when I noticed that I e-mailed out to 2 downlines.  I guess I had a inactive dowline sign up a few days ago and I didn't even notice.  So now I am wondering what i should do to try to get that person back before they cancel completely.  Does anyone have any sample letters they send out to new downlines that they could share with me?  Thanks!

Hi!  My name is Kimberly and I just joined less than a week ago.  Now after reading you guys' latest posts I wish I was on a better team since I haven't been able to contact one of my uplines.  This forum is great though and I thank everyone for all the great tips and ideas and I hope to be sucessful here with GDI!