Jean's Blog

Ask Jean Tuesday: How Can I Make Money Working At Home?

Posted by Jean

“My husband just had his pay cut in half with no warning. He also has a company car which they now want back. We have a small cushion to pay our bills for a few months but I’m going to have to help out financially until we get back on our feet. We have two cars and an 18 year old son who needs one of the cars for his job. So, I’m stuck at home. I searched the internet for work at home jobs and found a website. They pay you to fill out surveys and you can do as many or as few as you want. My question is: Is there any way to tell if this company is legit? There is a small membership fee of $39.95 which I didn’t think was too bad. Do you know anything about this?”
- Debbie, Delaware

There has been a lot of news recently about work-at-home opportunities that have turned out to be scams — leaving people even more strapped for cash than they were to begin with. At times like these, when unemployment is up, scammers have a bigger pool of people to prey on.

So you’re wise to be careful. There are legitimate at-home jobs out there, but in your search, you need to keep your eyes wide open for some telltale warning signs. I asked Alison Southwick of the Better Business Bureau for her tips, as well as any red flags that should have you hitting the “back” button on your web browser right from the get go.

Red Flag: “Get Rich Without Leaving Home!”
There are plenty of safe ways to make money from home, including participating in surveys from large corporations. However, most of these opportunities can be found by doing a simple internet search – you don’t need to subscribe to a service like the one you found. In addition, a lot of these surveys pay very little – I’ve seen some offering 50 cents – and many pay in gift cards or coupons, not cash. “You can make money completing surveys and focus groups,” says Southwick, “but you’re probably not going to make a lot.” Always ask how much you’ll earn per survey, and how you’ll receive your due. You also should ask how you’ll receive the money — you shouldn’t have to give them your bank account information or Social Security number.

Red Flag: An employer asks for money upfront.
Southwick says that the BBB has received thousands of complaints from consumers saying they were scammed out of hundreds (and in some cases, thousands) of dollars, by providing money upfront for things like background checks, credit reports, supplies (such as envelopes or craft materials), or, in cases like yours, a membership fee. “The opportunity to make back that money is probably not there,” says Southwick, “and you could end up with less money than you started with.” Southwick also warns of deceptive marketing: “They might tell you they’re charging you a certain amount, but they sometimes will end up charging you more than they advertise – and then continue to bill you monthly.” She also advises you read the fine print – the money you cough up could very well be non-refundable.

Red Flag: You’re asked to deposit a check, and then wire-transfer money to a third party.
Some scams come in the form of “Mystery Shopper” schemes. They’ll send you a check, which initially clears after you deposit it. They’ll tell you to reserve some of that money to spend at different stores as a “mystery shopper,” and ask you to wire transfer the rest back to another party (the reasons vary scam to scam). You wire the money, and everything seems to be fine – until you find out that the check you originally deposited was a fake, and suddenly, you’re out hundreds (or thousands) of dollars.

The bottom line? If it sounds too good to be true, it is. Southwick suggests seeking out actual jobs that allow you to work from home, like telemarketer positions, rather than testing out multiple individual opportunities. Checking up on the company with your local Better Business Bureau is always a good idea, but if there’s no report, you can try something as simple as a Google search, although remember that what you read on the Internet is not always true. “Sites that claim to rate the top online survey opportunities aren’t always unbiased third parties,” says Southwick.  But there are many sites that allow consumers to post real reviews of their experience with a company (like IMReportCard.com) – and you can quickly find if the opportunities you’ve been checking into have (or have not) worked for others.