While we work hard to put legitimate information out there for our readers about the realities of starting and running a business from home, sadly, hundreds of thousands of people still fall for scams every year.
More disturbingly, of the top ten internet scams listed by the FTC, half of them are targeted to individuals who want to work at home.
- Internet Auctions. Both businesses and consumers are scammed in auction sales that never deliver the money/products as promised.
- Internet Access Service. apping people into long-term contracts for internet service by giving them a check with ‘conditions’.
- Credit Card Fraud. NEVER give a credit card number to prove you are over eighteen. DUH.
- International Modem Dialing. Getting you to download a trojan horse that makes long-distance calls from your modem.
- Web Cramming. Signing you up for something without your consent.
- MLMs & Pyramid Schemes. When the primary consumer of the products happens also to be the people who are selling it.
- Travel and Vacation. Classic bait & switch or bargain packages stuffed with hidden fees.
- Business Opportunities. Exaggerated earnings claims for a marketing system that is more of a marketing SPAMstem.
- Investments. Buy into our big-money day-trading system!
- Health Care Products and Services. Buy our cancer cure today!
Since I’ve not fallen for any of these scams (thank goodness), I can only speak from my personal experience. But between my years of marketing and lots of guidance from the FTC, here are some red flags to help you stay away from home business and internet marketing scams:
Red Flag #1: The System Does the Work for You.
Anything that leads you to believe that the system will do the work for you, and all you have to do is sit back and let the money roll in is something you should run far, far away from. EVERYONE who runs an internet business will tell you the same thing I am about to tell you, running an internet business is just as much work as running a brick and mortar business.
