Spotting Scams

One question that is always asked pretty often is whether or not something is a scam, so I figured I would address this again.  If interested in my previous post, you can open it here.  Well, sometimes it can be easy to tell something is a scam, and other times not so easy.  There are a few red flag that can help to pinpoint something being more of a scam than a legitimate job offer.

• Fee – If there is a fee to get started, that is a pretty good sign of a scam.  Now, there have been a few jobs that I have made a payment for and some that I have featured that require a payment for a background check.  The one job, required a training fee to be paid to the trainer, but they took it out of the first paycheck.  The craft company that I am working for required an upfront payment for the craft materials that I received.  Other companies do require payment for background checks.  If something seems suspicious you can either contact the company asking about the fee or skip it and move on to the next opportunity.

• Unsolicited email – Most companies that hire at home workers do not contact you through Monster or CareerBuilder because they found your resume online.  These types of companies that offer legitimate work know that workers will find them, and they don’t have to spend resources searching out individuals through job boards.  Plus, many of the emails that I’ve gotten like this are usually misspelled or poor English, which is also a good clue that it’s a scam.

• Type of work – What type of work are they offering?  If it is something simple for a lot of money, it’s probably a scam.  If it’s processing packages or taking checks, it’s probably a scam.

• Huge potential salary – Most jobs that are WAH, do not come with huge paychecks.  A job opportunity offering 1,000s of dollars a month is probably a scam.

Each of these are usually signs that a job is bogus, but it is not always easy to spot a scam from a legitimate offer.  Wondering if a job is real or not?  Feel free to send me an email or contact me through the blog.  Been burned by a scam?  Share your story in the comments below to help others learn from your mistakes.