Work-at-home scams are expected to become more prevalent as economic conditions worsen and people find themselves out of work or in need of extra cash to deal with escalating prices for basic goods, experts in law enforcement and consumer advocacy say.
Scammers prey on people who are desperate for money.
This is how it works: You get an unsolicited email, or find a job post on a major job board, about a work-at-home job involving freight. Typically they offer to pay anywhere from $20 to $40 for every package you receive at your home and then reship with a pre-paid shipping label the scammers provide.
The criminals are often based in former Soviet Bloc nations, and the unsuspecting victims are paid through a money wiring service such as Western Union.
In actuality the scammers are purchasing goods online with stolen credit card numbers and using the victim’s home address to ship the goods.
Sometimes they even ask victims for their bank account numbers, promising to directly deposit their paychecks in the account but they end up cleaning them out.
Since scams like these are going to get worse, there are a few key things to keep in mind:
- Research the company you’re interested in working for and get references from employees. Check Web sites like http://www.ripoffreport.com/, www.wahm.com, and the BBB to make sure they don’t have a checkered history.
- Never pay money to get a job. That’s not how it works. Employers pay you.
- Don’t expect real companies to be sending unsolicited emails to your computer with job offers. Hardly any firms ever look for employees this way.
- Just because a job is posted in your local newspaper, or a well-known web job board, doesn’t mean the job is real.
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