How to Avoid Work From Home Scams
More then ever, we are seeing businesses adapt to a work from home platform in some sort of capacity. Especially, when you consider the current state of our country during the COVID-19 pandemic. With that in mind, I believe it’s a perfect time to discuss ways to avoid work from home scams. Honestly, this is one of my most requested topics. Many are unsure when an opportunity is legit or a scam. Well, we will provide tips and information for when you are searching for remote/work from home job postings.
1. Be Careful About Opportunities That Requires Upfront Fee Payments
Ok. This one is a little tricky, since there are some exceptions to this tip and we will discuss some of those exceptions shortly. However, there are scams requiring you to pay outrageous amounts for subscription, upfront fees, etc to have access to an opportunity. You want to watch out for this and make sure if there is an upfront cost; it’s with a legitimate company and the positions is real.
Now there are exceptions. There are legit work from home jobs that may require you to pay for training and/or certification upfront. You will usually find this is the case for position identified as a contracted/independent contractors. An excellent example of this would be opportunities contracted through companies; such as, LiveOps and Arise. Both companies are completely legitimate and offer some awesome opportunities in the call center/customer service field. However, both companies will require upfront costs. These cost can include; but not limited to background checks, certification/training, equipment, etc.
NOTE: Since both companies are setup for Business to Business contracting; you would need to have an actual business with a business bank account to become contracted with them. Don’t have a business and/or business bank account? There are many third party companies, Independent Business Owners (IBOs), who you can sign up with to have access to the job opportunities with LiveOps and Arise. Usually you will still have the upfront costs if your were to sign through an IBO. You can land opportunities for major corporations through LiveOps and Arise; such as Home Depot, Quickbooks, Airbnb, ADT, Carnival Cruises, Disney and many more.
2. The Use Of Public Emails (Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, etc)
It is a huge red flag when a company is providing you with a public email address. Legit business will generally have a private email associated with the company. Honestly, I don’t view a business as legit if the business could not take the time to establish a private domain and email account. Really, these are just basic tasks in establishing a business.
3. The Job Description is Too Good To Be True or Offers Very Little Information
If you come across a work from home job posting and it’s promising you unrealistic earnings with little to no work chances are the job is a scam. For example, “earn unlimited income stuffing envelopes”. What is the likelihood of you getting rich from stuffing envelopes. Another example, the company claims they are recruiting peoples to start an internet business and they offer to send you a check to cover the start up cost. Many times the description in both of these jobs are extremely vague and full of fluff; without any real information about the jobs.
In any job posting, the description, responsibilities, qualifications and/or requirements should be fully disclosed. This allows you to know exactly what is expected and decide if the opportunity is something you would like to pursue.
4. Research The Company
Take the time and do your due diligence by researching the company. Obviously, the goal is to retrieve as much information as possible. To start, you can find a great deal of information by simply searching the company’s website. Not only can find out what type of business the company do; but usually you will also find out information about the company’s core values, mission statement, other available job postings, etc.
In addition to the company’s website, you can also use other resources; such as, Glassdoor and Indeed.com. Both of these websites offer information about thousands of companies. For example, Glassdoor allows current and previous employees to report information about the companies they have worked for. This is actually a cool feature, since the employees can not only provide salary information for their position; but they can also provide information about the overall experience working with the company.
5. Avoid Providing Personal Information Early In the Interviewing/Recruiting Process
Of course, providing your personal information is apart of any hiring process. However, companies who begin asking for this information almost immediately you should question and stay away. Although you are seeking remote employment, the hiring process isn’t much different than any other position at a typical office.
6.  Grammatical & Spelling Error Throughout Job Posting
If the job posting is filled with grammatical and spelling error, you what to take heed. This is a clear sign, the job may be a scam. Therefore, move on, don’t even that the chance.
7. Use Well Known Job Posting Websites
The are some really good job posting websites out there providing reliable information for legitimate virtual openings. Some websites, such as, Indeed.com, Google, and ZipRecruiter are extremely proactive in eliminating fraudulent postings. They have some really good feature built into their website to actively scan the opportunities that are posted. Furthermore, the are some websites that focus solely on remote opportunities. Websites like Flexjobs, Freelancer and Upwork actually focus on virtual jobs including full time with benefits, independent contractors to single project assignments. Either way, they are a good resource to use when you are looking for legitimate work from home opportunities.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there a many virtual opportunities available for you all. Not to mention, the growing demand for this new way for companies to staff their business. As a result, there will many work from home scams targeting people searching for these opportunities. Ultimately, it is up to you to be cautious, use the resources provided to you and follow your instincts.
