HOMEWORKING SCAMS
Homeworking Scams fall
into three main categories; directory scams,
recruitment scams and craftwork scams.
Directory
Scams. If a
company is claiming to offer a variety of different
types of work it is usually not offering any work
at all, but is selling a directory - usually
between $10 and $50 - of other companies claimimng
to offer work. Sometimes the company will actually
tell you it is selling a directory of hundreds of
companies offering homework, but what you will
actually receive for your money is a list of
companies who almost all want their own
registration fee and will fall into one of these
three scam categories, assuming that is they still
exist or are even looking for workers. The
remainder will be such things as lists of shopping
catalogues. There can't be many people who don't
already know about these. Also, don't be taken in
by companies offering to refund your fee if you
don't find work. Their conditions make this
impossible.
Recruitment Scams
There are two types of recruitment
scams. You've
probably seen the first, and less serious of these
in newsagents' windows among other places
offering homeworking opportunities. You are told
that you will be paid for envelope filling, or
redirecting envelopes at anything from 25c per
envelope to $1.50 per envelope. You usually pay a
registration fee in the region of $15 and may get a
homeworking directory for this price. (see above)
However it is dressed up, all you are doing is
trying to recruit other people into the same
scheme, so you only earn your money by riping off
other people. Don't get involved.
The second type of recruitment scam is far
more serious and shows no sign of going away, in that
you are either being duped into
handling stolen funds or you give sufficient information
about yourself for your own identity to be stolen. This is covered in more detail in our
newsletters of November and
December 2004
I've also come across another report also written in 2004, which
is as valid today as it
was then. Visit http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5424542/
to find out how one jobseeker ended up actually being arrested as an accomplice to a
crime, as a result of responding to one of these ads. Similar job scams have been
around for years but shows no sign of going away. Take a look at this report from
2002 -
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3078533/
where the job offer was solely created for identity theft purposes.
Craft
Scams You may see
these in newsagents windows, but more often these
will appear in local and national newspapers. You
are invited to send a registration fee to a company
for a start-up kit for making up items, to return
to them on completion. Unfortunately, when you
receive the kit you will either find sub-standard or
inappropriate materials, or missing instructions
and that they take considerably longer to complete
than the advert suggested. This however, is largely
irrelevant as the company will invariable reject
your finished goods on the basis that they fail
their spurious quality standards. It will not be
possible to meet these standards as the companies
have no intention of paying out any money. See
below for a more detailed explanation
using the claims of one particular company.
If you really wish to make
the items offered by these companies you should
consider buying the materials from a craft supplier
and selling through local shops, stalls etc. Most
small shops will be happy to sell on sale or
return. If you don't know where to begin, take a
look at the books listed on the
craft page
There are also many chain letters doing the
rounds. You are asked to send $1 or $5 to each
person on the list and then circulate the letter to
200 or more people. You will spend a fortune on
postage and mailing lists and get nothing back.
Don't do it! The only use for these lists is to use
the names to compile your own mailing list.
Also avoid companies offering get-rich-quick schemes, without telling
you what is involved. In almost every case they are
merely selling you a manual containing nothing you
don't already know, often simply a few pages
telling you to send out mailshots like the one you
signed up from.
E-Mail Scams A new development
has been the use of e-mail to try to recruit people
into scams. In some cases these are simply being
used as an alternative to direct mail eg chain
letters and flyers from companies. Others are sent
out giving the impression you can actually earn
from home using your computer. eg.
We are currently hiring
serious homeworkers. Positions: home typist, clerk,
secretary, supervisor. Earn $3500 - $5000 per
month! Experience is not necessary. Part time/full
time. Anywhere in the world! Apply now!
However these turn out to
be no more than an e-mail version of the envelope
scams above. By sending out hundreds of e-mails you
earn a few pence (or more often cents) for each
response you get. Of course you've had to pay a
"deposit" to deter "timewasters" which you only get
back when you've conned the required number of
potential homeworkers and even if you do manage to
generate sufficient enquiries the chances are that
the company will find excuses not to pay
you.
Virus Warnings Although there is
no financial implication here, another version of
the chain letter is the virus warning where you are
told about a supposedly deadly computer virus and
told to pass the message on to everyone you know.
These viruses are usually totally ficticious and
cause panic to the uninitiated. To avoid worrying
about viruses or passing on scaremongering bogus
information, you should always have up to date
anti-virus software on your computer if you use the
Internet. They are incredibly easy to use. You
simply buy or download one if you didn't get one
with your computer and then log into their site to
update at regular intervals. Don't just install it
and forget about it as new viruses are being
developed all the time. Contrary to what you might
expect, it isn't expensive to keep up to date with
an annual subscription being only about £10 -
£15. My personal favourite is Norton, but don't rush out and buy a copy. You can get a free 6 months subscription,
as part of Google's latest selection of free software. Just click on the banner below, or visit our freebies page for further details of the contents.
Free E-Books
"Starting Your Internet Business Right" is a FREE twenty-section EBook answering
the most frequently asked questions of people looking to operate a business online .
There is a chapter in the EBook that talks about and identifies Internet Business
scams and schemes that cheat new Net business operators out of millions of dollars every year.
This section explains how the scams work, and what to watch for to avoid them. Download your copy here
Scam Free Zone: Scam Tip Offs: - This hard-hitting e-book covers just about every type of scam
you'll find online! A professional PDF file by the
Online Scam Expert, Neil Shearing. (Just a
ten-second download with a 56K modem.)
Examples Of Homeworking Offers To Avoid
If you've had any bad
experiences, let me know and I'll add the details
here. These are just a very small cross section of
the many scams around, to give you an idea of the
sort of claims made. For a list of UK scams visit
the UK
site
Any company offer assembly
work outside their own country is unquestionably a
scam, where the only money changing hand is
registration fees. There is absolutely no economic
justification for incurring additional shipping
costs when local unskilled labour is always
available, at a lower cost. Your only chance of
ever seeing your money back would be to recruit
others into the same program and get a cut of their
registration fee.
The following relates to
TRD Systems, Inc
http://trdsystems.com who ask for a $250 deposit! but the
points raised apply equally to many other "offers"
of work.
In this specific example,
there are key points which highlight the
scam:
1. You are not visiting an
official company site but a free website and free
e-mail address with autoresponder, obviously
created by someone with no money or computing
skills who therefore must be on commission for any
recruitment
2. The company claim
"The job does not
require technical skills. Once you become
comfortable with the assembly procedure, we'll show
you how to set up a simple assembly line that
enables you to complete up to 6 Modulators per
hour." but they
then go no to claim they will pay you " $7.50 +
postage for each completed Modulator. $7.50 x 6 =
$45 / hour" If the work is as straightforward as
they claim, why pay so much? If they don't have
enough work to warrant opening a factory then why
do they need to advertise worldwide and offer
excessive pay packages? If they do have enough work
to offer internationally, then they would be far
better off opening a factory and paying a few
dollars an hour, (or less in parts of Asia).
3. They claim "CONTINOUS WORK IS GUARANTEED!". If
they really had continuous work for everybody on
the planet, don't you think they would be a
household name worldwide. Name me a single company
in the world that could employ everyone in the
world at $45 an hour
4. They state "We are snowed
under with calls from our distributors and unable
to talk to anyone about the contractors job.
Sorry." No legitimate company hides from its employees
5. Ludicrous claims to justify the action
eg "Let's just say we own an electronic
manufacturing company employing 50 people. No
matter how careful we are, one employee can wipe us
out. Just one disgruntled employee, and one high
powered lawyer, can make our life a nightmare.
Presently in America we're witnessing an enormous
rise in the already staggering number of employee
lawsuits.
The best way to avoid
being victimized by a situation like this, is to do
exactly what we're doing...farm out the
work."
All companies have insurance to cover such an eventuality.
6. Glossing over valid points "We didn't
want to go to Taiwan!" without saying why not, as this
is where these items are made for every other
company at a far lower cost.
7. "Please do not mail letters which
require our signature! When we are not present at
the instant the mailman rings, he takes the letter
back to the Post Office. We have no time to drive
there and stand in line." What sort of company doesn't
have anybody present during office hours?
PLUS the items you
manufacture have to go into making a product. They
are not the product themselves so what happens to
them. Surely they must be being at the very least
boxed up for onward transmission to another
company. If there are thousands of assemblers
worldwide producing 6 items an hour, this adds up
to a lot of mail. It's not like one letter for a
house. We're talking about truck loads every day.
You're not going to be popping down to the post
office and queuing up to pick up thousands of
assembled units. Just 1000 workers worldwide
producing 40 items each is 10,000 deliveries a
week. Does this sound like something the postman
would just leave on an empty doorstep (and remember
they don't need business premises because of the
threat of legislation and costs of implementing red
tape!)?
I could go on, but I hope
by now you are beginning to understand how
implausible this offer of work really is.
The following is a typical
example of what happens when you do fall for the
sales pitch and send in your "deposit"
Procraft
International,
Telford, Shropshire, UK
"Their claim was that if I
sent £25 they would furnish me with materials
to make things like computer files, pop-up
greetings cards, and a list of about 10 other items
for which I would be paid handsomely once they were
returned to them (and then be reimbursed my
£25).
I sent for the materials
for the computer file and was sent one for trial,
which is fair enough. But the "materials" were so
shabby, it was impossible to create anything decent
. The so-called vinyl outer material was nothing
more than a thin crepe type of quality and the
lining wouldn't have made even a decent duster! The
"support" for creating the shape of the box was to
be supplied by myself from an empty packet of
cornflakes! This magnificent article when finished,
I was assured, was to retail at £18 and I
would be receiving a third of this for each one
produced.
"This is only the trial
package", I convinced myself, "the tester to see if
I'm up to scratch for them - coz they know full
well that you must be darned good if you can make
something out of this!!".
I was wrong. I returned a
right shambles (in my opinion) to them with a note
saying that this was the best I could offer and
that there would be much improvement when they sent
me the real thing. That was the real thing. So not
only did I not get paid for that, my deposit wasn't
forthcoming either. The letter went on to say
"however if you wish to have another attempt then
please contact us and we will despatch more
materials. No way was I going to struggle with that
rubbish again, so in order to attempt to retrieve
my £25 I asked for the "pop-up cards". The
quality was undescribable without swearing."
Aspar Trading Co.Ltd.,
P.O.Box 52236, 4062 Limassol, Cyprus
You reply to an
advertisement which states something along the
lines of:
We are currently hiring
serious homeworkers. Positions: home typist, clerk,
secretary, supervisor. Earn $3500 - $5000 per
month! Experience is not necessary. Part time/full
time. Anywhere in the world! Apply now!
They return with a well
written letter offering the possibility of several
options in the way of typing work - the sting in
the tail being they want a deposit up front of
$100! They say "We
are only interested in SERIOUS homeworkers to work
for us. For that reason we must ask for a one-time
deposit of US$100. This is NO FEE. It is a DEPOSIT
that will be refunded to you when you have earned
your first US$100. This is necessary to protect
both you and us from unserious (sic) job
seekers.
If you're desperate enough
to send your $100, you'll then find you simply send
out more e-mails along the lines of the one above
and supposedly earn for each reply you receive,
once you receive 500. Unfortunately, not only are
you then actively encouraging others into the scam
in a desperate bid to get back your money, but the
company then come out with a selection of excuses
as to why they won't pay before ignoring you
altogether. With only an e-mail address and a
Cypriot P.O. Box address there's not a lot more you
can do.
Many US companies make
very similar offers to the one above. They all
sound as if they are offering typing or other admin
work but actually offer no more than a simple
envelope stuffing scam.
Here's another typical experience:
TypeAtHome.com
They are listed as typeathome.com with their company named TRC -
for TECHNICAL RESEARCH CONSULTANTS. They are located at
2222 Michelson Suite 222-103, Irvine Ca. 92612. Supposedly the
company is looking to expand it's marketing campaign for future
mailing advertisements. The typist job is to type labels from their
lists. The setup cost is $49.99 payable to TRC.
In the beginning they would send you sheets of paper with the names which in turn you had to type on labels and return to them together with a pay sheet. Then their program changed and they were going to only send checks out on the 15th and 30th of each month. On the check would be the website to get your next assignment. For example one website was: www.ieasysite.com/usa/techresearches_010.htm. I thought it was a great idea at the time. If you try to bring up the link you will not see the list of names and addresses as previously listed. Already checked while writing this email. Because I live in NJ and they are based in Ca - the difference in mail time was about 4 days to receive or for them to get my work.
I rec'd $20 in checks for the work done in Feb & March. I did not receive my check in April until April 8th with the website on it. I mailed out my assignment of work on April 15, knowing it would never reach them for the check processing date of the 12th.
I never rec'd a check for this work I submitted nor an explanation as to why no further assignments were mailed to me. I did ask if I could get additional assignment and mail them all together. Again it was on deaf ears. Have written them many times and no one answers my emails. But if you pretend to be a NEW customer you will get a reply to your email inquiry.
NHES National Homeworkers Employment Service
The Attorney General has stated NHES has to pay over $15,000 in damages to the people who lost money.
You can find out more about this scam from http://www.dotcommommies.com/scamnhes.html
If you are newly scammed by NHES then you need to file a report with the Attorney General ASAP.
You can contact the Illinois Attorney General, Consumer Fraud Division, at 217-782-1090.
NHES is still scamming people and the Attorney General has been notified.
They still have a live website at www.nhes.net
