There are so
many ways that newbies can "be had" on the Internet. It
is just sad
that so many
of those that are eaten up by the tigers that roam through the
Internet
jungle are only trying to find a way to be able to make some money using
their personal
computers and their Internet connections. They aren't even hoping
to become rich
or famous. They don't expect making money to be easy or fast.
They simply
want a job that will allow them to stay at home with their young
children, help
to put a loved child through college or add to their retirement
income. They
are honest, hard-working decent people....that make the tigers out
there start
thinking about lunch.
If you are considering
trying to find a work at home job, you need to know that
you will be
working more hours for less money than you made at your job that
was located in
the brick and mortar world. On the other hand, you will not have
all of the
related expenses of a brick and mortar job either.
You will not have the expense of traveling to and from work.
You will not have the expense of suitable clothing for work.
You will not have the expense of day-care.
You will not have the expense of lunch out everyday.
Good
things...all of them! But there is a downside to working from home, as well.
You will be considered to be self-employed
You will have to pay all of your FICA tax. (Your employer now pays
half.)
You will have to convince your family and friends that you really do
have a
job.
You had better be aware of the tigers and other critters that want to
have
you for
lunch...at the entree.
There are
schemes and scams out there that are directed at those who want to
be work-at-home
moms, those who are looking for an additional income source
and those who
are retirees looking for part-time work to supplement their
incomes. Some
of these scams are:
Stuffing envelopes: “Make extra money by stuffing
envelopes from home!” This
tiger is a bit
long in the tooth. It‟s been around for years. Advertisements for "at home-
envelope
stuffers can be found in newspapers at your local library that
date back
several decades....and yet people will still fall for it.
The reason
that people will fall for this ploy is that they get all of that unsolicited
mail at their
own homes and they think that somebody had to have put that paper
into those
envelopes that are addressed to them.
Nope!
Sorry.... but no living person actually put that paper into those envelopes.
It was put
there by a machine and it was addressed by a computer. It was mailed
in bulk.
There is
always, of course, a "small fee" to get started in the envelope
stuffing
business. In
return for this, "small fee‟ you will most likely get instructions
for
placing ads
just like the one you fell for to get others to bite.
It is a tiger...it is a con...and the only way that you will ever get your money back
is
to fool others
into thinking they can make money by stuffing envelopes.
Fact: There are no envelope stuffing jobs to be had!
Craft or assembly jobs: This tiger is very
attractive. It appeals to those who are
talented at
crafts or handy with hand tools. These folks see an advertisement that
promises them
that they can make a ton of money by just doing what they
already know
how to do and are very good at and it is just almost irresistible. This
looks like the
opportunity that they have been looking for!
Whoa! Put that
sewing machine or those hand tools away and let‟s think this
over. There are
some things that you don't know. There isn't any reason for you
to know these
things but you better learn them.....fast.
The headline
of this advertisement is in big bold print and there are usually
multiple
exclamation points, as well. The headline promises that you will be sent
the material
and then be paid for the finished products when you send them in to
the employer.
Don‟t skip the print that isn't quite as big as
that headline. That's where the
"catch" is.....or, maybe I should say, catches. There's more than one way for this
tiger to get
you.
Usually the
first thing is that you will be required to "invest" in some special
equipment or
supplies that aren't going to be included in the "free materials" that
were promised
in the larger print. This equipment or supplies can run anywhere
from a few
dollars to several hundred dollars. This is what the advertisers are
selling! You will see that there is a no return policy for
the equipment or supplies
that you must
purchase....there never is.
If you get out
your magnifying glass and read the itty-bitty print at the very bottom
that is well
below the scroll line, you will see a statement that says something
like, “All
work must meet quality standards.” It will look something like this: “All work
must
meet quality standards.” That‟s where this tiger is
really going to get you and get you
good.
No work will
ever meet quality standards. It isn't possible. You will
buy the
equipment or
supplies. You will work to create the products as directed. You will
never see one
thin dime in payment for the finished products that you send.
It gets worse.
You have no legal recourse. You agreed to buy the equipment or
supplies and
were told that there was a "no return" policy. You agreed
to produce
products that
met "quality control standards" that were not specified. You've been
had!
The fact is
that there really is a huge market for hand-crafted products out there.
The market is
huge...maybe almost unlimited. If you have a talent for making
hand-crafted
products and if you have the ability to market them, you can make
some money
doing it.
You will not,
however, ever make any money just using your talents to assemble
hand-crafted
products at home for these tigers that are not even selling them.
They are
selling the equipment and supplies....that is ALL they are selling...and
they want to
sell them to you.
Fact: You can make money selling hand crafted items but not by
assembling these items for others.
Medical Billing: This very large headline will
read something like, “Job explosion
in the Health
Care Industry!!!!!!!” There are always a lot of exclamation points.
You will see
these advertisements in newspapers, magazines and, of course, on
the Internet.
You will be
told that the entire reason that medical costs are so high is because
the medical
profession needs your personal assistance and that just by taking a
job, for which
you will be very well paid, you can single-handedly lower the cost
of health care
for the whole world. Wow!
You need a
job...and they need you! Sounds like a partnership that would work
out well for
everybody.
These
advertisements try to sell you on the idea that it‟s the overwhelming
amount of
required paperwork that is the root cause of the inflation of health care
costs....for
all of us.
These advertisements
claim that all that is needed to fix this problem in the
implementation
of electronic claim processing....which is a new and innovative
technology
that has recently become available.
Horse
feathers! Electronic billing is done by a few well established companies.
Doctors
subscribe to these services and have been doing so for more than a few
years. Medical
billing isn't done by hand and hasn't been since the late 1980s.
If you answer
one of the advertisements, what you will get in return for the hard earned
dollars that
you send in is a brochure, an application, some discs, a
contract, some
disclosure statements (in tiny print), and possibly some
testimonial
letters from people who will swear that this has changed their lives
and made the
wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. HA!
What you will
have are some basic instructions for setting up your own medical
billing
business. What you will not have is a medical building job. You will be
required to
get your own clients. They will not be supplied. As I said before, there
are a few (and
only a few) well established companies that have been doing this
billing for
doctors for many years. They are your competition...and very stiff
competition.
You will be
promised that you can earn a ton of bucks by only working part time
and at your
own pace. Now stop just a minute and think about that. Part time
AND a ton of
money? Does that really sound reasonable to you? It isn't a
reasonable
expectation. You aren't likely to make a ton of money working at a full
time job of
any kind and you certainly won't be making very much, if
anything, by
working part
time. Real world business doesn't work like that and neither does
Internet based
businesses.
Oh, and you will
also be required to make a personal investment of between one
and TEN
thousand dollars in order to get in on the golden opportunity.
Fact: Medical billing is well covered by the few companies who have been
doing it for decades. You aren't the answer to the soaring cost
of health
care.
money by doing
it to make up your financial short fall, right? No...sorry....that isn't
really very
likely to happen.
I'm not telling you that there are NO data entry jobs available. I am only
telling
you that you
aren't likely to get one of them by answering one of those slick ads
that promise
you a data entry job if you will but sign up for their course.
The problem
with these so-called data entry courses, is that they rarely have
anything to do
with data entry jobs. Most of them are more on the order of
teaching you
(more or less) how to set up and run your own affiliate program.
There isn't anything wrong with affiliate programs but they aren't data entry jobs.
They are
businesses in which you will do some data entry work....like on tax
forms when you
file your self-employment tax returns. There can also be data
entry work in
the operation of an affiliate marketing business. You will need to
enter data in
order to maintain orderliness in your business.
If you let
this tiger get you, after you pay you money you will get a course that will
either be
delivered electronically via the computer, on CD's or DVD's. This
course will
teach how to find affiliate programs that you can sign up for
(information
that is readily available for free on the Internet). Then you will be
instructed how
to set up advertisements in Google Ad Words (this information is
also readily
available on the Internet). What you will not be told is that affiliate
marketing is
an extremely competitive business. It isn't a data entry job.
You will
be told that
these ads that you have to set up in Google Ad words will only cost
you one penny
each. Now there is a big fat, out-and-out, rotten lie.
You might set
up ads that will only cost you one penny each time someone clicks
on
them....that much is true. Your ads will be listed on about page 15 in search
results and
you aren't very likely to have them clicked on. But if, by some stroke
of luck, they
are clicked on, they cost well more than one penny per click.
Fact: Data entry courses are a scam. They will not secure a data entry
job
for you.
course for his
dinner. It is absolutely true that the Internet gobbles up words at an
alarming rate
and that there is always a demand for those who can write articles,
ebooks and
reports about a variety of subjects.
Writing for
the Internet is an art. Just because you can string sentences together
that are
grammatically correct and make sense doesn't mean that you can
write
for Internet
marketers.
The
advertisements that you see that say, "Writers Wanted' don't really want
writers. What
they want are the people who want to be writers. There will always
be a course
you are required to pay for or a list that you are required to buy.
That‟s what these advertisements are selling....courses or lists....they are
NOT
selling
writing jobs.
Fact: You will not get a job writing by taking a course or buying a
list.
Check List
There really
are work-at-home jobs out there. The problem is finding the ones
that are
legitimate job offers. So many are nothing more than Internet jungle
tigers waiting
to take advantage of you. Here is a check list that will help you to
separate the
fact from the fiction:
1. What is the "cost" of getting the job that is advertised? Find out what, if
any, equipment
or supplies are required. Legitimate work-at-home jobs do
not require
that you spend money. They pay YOU money.
2. Tell me
what the tasks are that I must perform in order to get paid. This is
a legitimate
question to ask. Every job on earth comes with a job
description of
some kind. If the company or individual that you are talking
to can
describe the job is a few sentences, keep looking.
3. Is this a
salaried position or will I be paid on a commission or hourly
basis? Here‟s another one question that any potential employee shouldn't
hesitate to
ask. Pay is always based upon something. It is either paid as a
salary that
has nothing whatsoever to do with hours worked or it is based
upon an hourly
pay scale for which you will be required to sign in and sign
out or it is
based upon a commission of percentage of sales that you must
make.
4. Who pays me
and when? That‟s an easy question. Every single legitimate
company or
individual employer has regular and specified pay periods.
You might be
paid once a week, once a month or twice a month. Any of
those pay
period options are perfectly legitimate.
5. Where are
you located? This is a question that only someone who is
working from
home would have to ask. If you were working in the brick
and mortar
world, you would be well aware of the place where you were
expected to
report to work. The Internet presents another little problem.
We are all
connected electronically rather that physically. You might be
working for
someone who is located in Malaysia. You need to be told
where the
person or business is physically located.
6. How will I
receive instructions? Here again, this is a problem that only
comes up when
the job is being done on the computer. You may receive
instructions
by email or by way of an instant messaging service.
7. Who will I
receive instructions from? This is a question that might need to
be answered
for real world businesses as well as for online ones. Many
times there
will be more than one partner in an online business. You need
to know who it
is that will supply you with instructions and directions. You
don‟t want to have to decide who to take direction from.
You are not
likely to ever recover any money that you have paid to the work-at-
home scam
artists have taken you for. Of course, it never hurts to try. Who
knows? You
might get lucky and at the very least you might prevent another
person from
getting taken in.
You might even
make it hard enough on a work-at-home scam artist to make
him think he
has a tiger by the tail.
1. The Federal
Trade Commission is the government entity charged with the
protection of
consumers. Call them at 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357).
That is the
place to report fraudulent business practices.
2. If you live
in a metropolitan area, there is most likely a consumer
protection
office in your area. You can call them or write them.
3. Report the
offending business to the Better Business Bureau. This
sometimes
seems to be an exercise in futility but it does have a direct
impact on
businesses.
4. If any part
of the correspondence came to you through the USPS, you can
contact your
local postmaster to report it. Mail fraud is a federal crime.
5. You can
contact the Attorney General of the state in which the company or
individual is
based. They may well have violated some state laws in the
process of
scamming you.
Frankly, it
just makes my blood boil when I see these slick advertisements that
are aimed
directly at those that are least able to absorb the cost of being
scammed.
There may be
very little that you can actually do to undo the damage that they
have caused
you, but by putting forth some time and effort you may prevent them
from doing the
same thing to others.
