A closer look into, how
these scams work reveals the fraud nature hidden in these schemes. Basically
most of these schemes promise high profits and claim being 'FREE', but as and
when one approaches closer most of them demand monetary submissions. For example,
recently while browsing the internet, I came across a similar 'Work from home'
scheme.
The deal sounded genuine
to me, offering a reasonable job. But, as soon as I began to sign-up for the
job, I arrived on a web page where I was asked to pay $100, as the 'sign-up'
fee. Since i belonged to the security domain and have been reading and writing
for this industry for quite sometime now, I immediately realized the fraud quotient
of the scheme. There was no guarantee of refund or genuine receipt of the
payment i was making. Once I pay the registrations they might help me set up
the website and may also offer me the list of product to offer as promised, but
chances of all these products being genuine looked bleak to me.
This was just one scheme
I came across, most of such schemes demand an initial investment from the users
under the banner of either registration fees or at times cost of initial raw
materials needed or membership fees and so on. But in reality the amount goes
to the fraudster's pockets. Among the famous scams based on this theme, the
topmost among the work-at-home scams is 'Envelope Stuffing' as identified by
'Scam busters' in one of their surveys on the same.
Talking more about the
'Envelope Stuffing' scam, it is believed to have began the U.S. Depression of
the 1920s and 1930s. With the onset of internet it has slowly moved onto the
Internet and there are several variations to this scam. Just like most scams,
users are promised to be paid $1-2 for every envelope they stuff. In return to
the remuneration, all a user needs to do is send the demanded money and wait
for the envelopes and required material to arrive. Up to 1,000 envelopes are
guaranteed a week. Once the money is send, the user gets a short manual with
flyer templates, which the user is supposed to put up around the town,
advertising yet another ridiculous 'work-from-home' scheme. Even if some
envelopes arrive initially, the remuneration of the done job, hardly arrive,
eventually leading into a loss to the user.
Envelope stuffing is
just one of those scams, some of the other famous work-from-home scams
include...
·
Chain Letters/Emails
("Make Money Fast")
·
Multi-Level Marketing
(MLM)
·
"Turn Your Computer
Into a Money-Making Machine!"
·
Typing At Home
·
"Just Call This
1-900 Number For More Information... "
·
"A List of
Companies Looking for Homeworkers!"
·
Email Processing
·
Medical Billing
·
Craft Assembly
These are just a few to
name, but many more exist and newer ones keep coming. Here are few tips that
might help you identify such scams that offer, and eventually enable you to
stay away from them.
·
Avoid unrealistic
offers-Don't fall for too good offers
·
Do research/find-out
about the advertiser before sparing your money/details
·
Authenticate/verify the
website offering the job
·
Check for authentic
contact persons/information/details
·
Avoid start-up fees
·
Don't always trust the
'Money-back guarantees'
·
And last but not the
least educate yourself and stay updated about such scams/spam/offers on regular
bases
To get similar
informative updates about such scams, spam, threats, attacks, malware and so
on, right in your inbox, subscribe to Cyberoam blogs. Cyberoam is an
award-winning global IT security company with a presence in more than 125
countries with the vision 'Securing You'. Hence we take it as our
responsibility to ensure all netizens remain secure. It is in line with this
that Cyberoam blogs always offer informative and detailed articles on recent
happening in the threat landscape. Subscribe now and stay secure! For more
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