Those tempting work at home ads

We’ve all seen those enticing work-at-home ads at one time or another. And you’ve probably even been tempted to call them. You already know them.

“Make $2,000 a week stuffing envelopes at home”

“Earn thousands of dollars per month, from home, processing medical billing claims. No experience required.”

However, as tempting as that sounds, we tend not to call because something in the ad just doesn’t seem right. Unfortunately, every day many people call these ads and join the programs, to great financial detriment. While a small number of “work from home” positions are legitimate, the vast majority are designed to make money for the person posting the ad, not the caller. Those dreams of a good home-earned income quickly turn into a nightmare of charges, fees, utility costs and more. And after all that, no job that you can get paid for ever materializes.

While there are scams that run the gamut of possibilities, the most common ones fall into 3 broad categories.

Medical Billing – The idea here is for you to become an external avenue for handling medical billing, chasing accounts receivable, handling electronic insurance claims, and more. And the company tells you that they have trained sales people available to get your accounts. This business requires an investment of $2,000 to $5,000. To do this, the company will train you and provide you with the materials you need to handle the process. The professional on the other end of the phone makes it sound really good as he explains how big a deal it is and how much you can make even with just a few small accounts.

However, the reality this time around is anything but rosy. Usually the promised sales help never shows up and you are left to just get customers. And those few who even try to give the business a shot when they discover this fact usually give up very quickly when they find out how much competition there is for business and how much is locked up in large, well-established companies.

Envelope Stuffing – The argument here is that they will tell you how to make money stuffing envelopes. A fee must be paid for the knowledge. The problem is that while they’re launching, they make it look like they’re selling training materials for an already lined up job. The reality is that they are usually selling you a model to go out and run the same types of ads so that you can sell the same materials to others. In other words, you get your own customers and then you sell them the same information: you post ads and you sell the course.

Assembly/handicraft: This type of activity sounds great for the handy person. The tone is quite simple. You buy the equipment and raw materials from the business, assemble the product and return it assembled, and the business will pay you your costs plus a certain profit per item produced. The only drawback, and it seems reasonable, is that the finished products must meet quality standards in order to get paid.

As a conscientious craftsman, you think this is not a big deal because you do good quality work. The reality is that the company will never find any of its items of high enough quality for you to buy and you must market the products yourself if you want to recoup your investment. In other words, once they sell you the machines and raw materials, they clean your hands.

Does this mean that all work at home jobs are scams? No problem. There are many legitimate work at home opportunities in the above categories and many others. But there are also many scams and you should protect yourself. And to do that, you need to ask a lot of questions and check their references before moving forward with any work-at-home opportunity.

Questions you might ask include:

What are the specific tasks you will perform?

Will you be paid in salary or commission or by the piece?

Who will really pay you?

When will you receive your first paycheck?

What is the total cost to participate in the work at home program? And what specifically do you get for your investment?

Do they have references that I can check (ie other people who work at home that I can call)?

Listen to the answers they give you and do some additional checking, even if all the answers seem to be on the rise. Be sure to check with the Better Business Bureau, your state attorney general, and any local consumer protection agencies. If you’re willing to poke around a bit more, enter your phone number into the Google search engine and see what results you get. You can also visit the FTC website (http://www.ftc.gov>) to research the company and see if they have any complaints against you.

If, after doing all your due diligence, you feel the opportunity is legitimate and something you want to get involved in, go for it. There are many good opportunities out there and many people make a very comfortable living from their spare room. But if an opportunity doesn’t seem quite right, let it pass. There are many more out there for you to explore.