BBB Business Profile | Work At Home Companies

Who wouldn't want to work from home on a part-time basis while earning thousands of dollars a month? The lure makes it difficult to refuse.

Unfortunately, work-at-home scams end up COSTING you money, instead of the riches you hoped for. Telecommuting is a thing.

Some occupations and industries are much more likely than others to offer real opportunities for at-home work. Aetna, Xerox, and Dell save millions of dollars in real estate, gas, and CO 2 emissions per year. All three organizations state that employees who telework are more engaged, productive, and happy at work. An interesting point about fraud is that it is a crime in which you make a decision whether or not to participate.

Hanging up the phone -- or not responding to questionable mailings or emails -- makes it difficult for the scammer to make you an accessory to fraud. In general, beware of work-at-home employers who ask you to pay them money up front. Legitimate employers pay you, not the other way around.

Work From Home Scams

Christine Durst, author of "The Rat Race Rebellion," says her research indicates the ratio of scams to legitimate opportunities is to If the employer will hire anyone -- with no experience necessary and no qualifications — it is probably a scam.

Legitimate work-at-home employers are only interested in employees who have the proper experience, skills, and certification. A work-at-home scammer is only interested in your payment required.

If the company is unknown, and does not seem to have a customer base bringing them revenue, as an employee, it should raise red flags. The California Attorney General. The Federal Trade Commission. The FTC tracks and prosecutes scammers. The Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI also has a dedicated Internet Crime Complaint Center IC3.

BBB Business Profile | Work at Home United

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. If any of the communications or payments were made through the mail, file a complaint with the U.

Check with your Better Business Bureau BBB.

Your BBB has a data base of thousands of businesses, with customer reviews and complaints. BBB fields telephone calls every day, and are one of the first lines of defense for the protection of consumers. Your BBB has the Scam Tracker , a tool to warn consumers of trending schemes and fraud covering North America.

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WORK FROM HOME Scams. Extortion Who wouldn't want to work from home on a part-time basis while earning thousands of dollars a month?

The classic example of a business that is not real. The "envelope stuffing" model originated in the U. If these companies were legit, why wouldn't they be using offshore labor at a fraction of the cost? Medical Billing or Claims Processing: Very few medical professionals will let just anyone handle private medical information, especially with healthcare privacy rules.

Most doctors will not outsource billing services to individuals, but rather to established companies whose workers are trained, insured, and employed on site.

In this work-at-home scheme, the scammers offer to sell you software to track late or lost UPS and FedEx packages, and assist the shippers' customers in obtaining refunds. The shippers say these refund-recovery schemes are bogus. If you have been scammed, report the fraud and file complaints with: The District Attorney, Sheriff, local police and local prosecutor in your community.