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Money From Home - Scams Exposed

Because the internet is overwhelmed with work at home scams, I've done some research into several of these "opportunities" that are being promoted. We will be looking at the most common ones: paid surveys, medical billing, typing from home, and envelope stuffing. We will start out by discussing the obvious scams that should be avoided at all costs.

Paid Surveys. You mean someone wants to pay me anywhere from $5 to $45 just to fill out a survey and give them my opinion? What could be easier? There was a time when this was a valid opportunity but today the internet is plagued with individuals using this concept to take advantage you. Let's take a closer look at this. First of all they have all your personal information because you "signed up." Now you are part of their email list and they sell this list to spammers. Your email inbox is now flooded with new opportunities every day. You have a friend that tells you that she did actually get paid for a survey. If you can get her to be honest with you, she will probably tell you that it took a lot of time and that she actually made a very small amount. In order to really get anywhere with this concept you would need lots these surveys. With the millions of people signed up to take these surveys, your chance of getting work is pitiful. Then there are the survey companies that never pay. Many of these companies will not pay out in cash. Instead they will enter you into a drawing to win cash or prizes. Of course, you know what that means. You get a big nothing for all your effort. My advice is to stay away from paid surveys.

Medical Billing. Perhaps you have seen the ads for medical billing in the newspaper. Along side of the real job offers, there are always ads that offer "no experience necessary" and a 900# to call. This is misleading because many times you assume that these are part of the real jobs. The same thing is happening on the internet with the exception of listing along side of real job openings. Let's look at what is really happening here. When you call that 900# you get a high pressure sales pitch that promises big money for a relatively small investment of $300-$500. That's right, they want you to purchase their software that you will use for the medical billing. Along with the software they will provide you with a list of doctors who will be your clients. The reality is that the list they provide is usually from an out of date database of doctors who haven't even asked for medical billing. Often times the software is also out of date or unlicensed. If you do end up with software that actually works, you must go find your own doctors who are in need of billing services. With the new HIPAA (Health Information Privacy Act established April 2003) privacy laws, many physicians are reluctant to have someone with no billing experience to handle these medical records. Most medical offices have someone internally handle this billing or it is sent over to a company that deals with just this one facet of the business. If you have been scammed on this one, good luck getting your money back. My advice is to avoid this like the plague.

Home typing / Data Entry. If you have looked for money making ideas from home, then I'm sure you have seen these as well. Home typing, sounds easy. Sure I can do that you're thinking. There may be some legitimate companies that use home typists but finding them is like finding a needle in a haystack. Here's how it usually works. Most of the companies, will ask you to fill out an application along with a "processing fee" of anywhere from $20-$79. If it is a valid offer from a real company, they will not ask for a fee. The fee is your first warning signal of a scam. If you do send in the application and fee what you quite often get back is a photocopy of the same ad that you responded to and a list of businesses that might be able to use a home typist. These businesses usually are not actively even looking for typists. In fact, many of them would probably not even consider hiring anyone to type from home. These scammers just keep coming up with more ideas, don't they? Avoid this as well.

Envelope stuffing . This scheme has been around for a long time. Many claim to pay you a dollar for every envelope you stuff. Okay so you fold and insert letters into an envelope and stamp them. Let's think about this for a moment. Why would a company pay you a buck for stuffing an envelope when they now have fancy little machines that do all this very quickly and it affixes postage to the envelope in the process.
Some promoters of envelope stuffing require a small processing fee to get you started. You remember what I said about fees, right? If they ask for a processing fee, avoid them. Many times what you will actually receive for this fee, is a photocopy of the same article you applied for and a letter explaining how to place this ad in newspapers and magazine or give to friends. Realize that there is no real work available here. The only money making here is if one of those people respond to your ad and then you're the scammer!
A quick summary of scams will show us a few common themes. Here they are:

• The ad is vague. All you know is that you can make HUGE MONEY
• There is a 900 # to call
• There is a fee to get started
• You must make a decision right NOW to get the special