With the recent economic woes, more people may be considering calling those numbers you see everywhere (including stapled to telephone poles) promising big bucks for working at home. Even if you never considered calling, you no doubt wondered what they were about. Most if not all of these ads are scams. Here is how the most popular ones work:
Medical Billing: This scam does a good job of appearing to be a legitimate business opportunity. If you respond to the ad, the scam artist will explain about the tremendous growth of the electronic medical billing and insurance claim market and that they are in the position to allow you into this market. What is the catch? Before you can participate, you must purchase the business package from the scam artist, including forms, computer programs, and customer contact lists. It will cost several thousand dollars. Those unlucky enough to purchase this package will discover that, although the items purchased will be fully functional and usable, they will be competing against a number of huge corporations that provide the same services in a manner no individual could possibly duplicate.
Envelope Stuffing: For a fee, the scam artist will send you a package explaining how to work at home stuffing envelopes. When you get the package, you will discover that it tells you to do exactly what the scam artist was doing: place an ad in the local paper promising big bucks for stuffing envelopes. If someone responds to the ad, you send them a copy of the package you just purchased from the scam artist. A new twist on the old “pyramid scheme.”
Assembly Work: The scam artist promises to pay you to assemble or make products at home. The catch? You will be required to purchase the assembly machine or equipment from the scam artist’s company. What happens when you finally submit your finished product for payment? Not surprisingly, it will be deemed of insufficient quality and you will receive nothing for your work.
Phone Answering: Thinking this may be a work-at-home call center or receptionist job? In fact, what the scam artist will eventually explain to you is that you will be answering the calls for one of those infamous “900” numbers. Probably not what you expected.
The short answer is that, when it comes to work-at-home schemes, they are not worth the quarter for the phone call.
— Mike Malin