Work From Home Scams

These work from home scams mainly include assembly work in the comfort of your own home. You are required to invest your own money to buy materials and produce items that a company has said it will buy.

You are told that there is a ready market for the products or that the company will buy the assembled products from you.

After you have completed the work, the company usually decides not to pay because your work does not meet its quality standards.

You are usually left with products that are difficult to sell, and you have lost your initial investment and time.

A typical advertisement may read "Assembly work at home! Easy quick money assembling craft items. No experience necessary. Huge demand for items."

Examples of craft items that are made include aprons, baby clothes, plastic signs, jewellery, Christmas decorations, hair bows, baby booties and toy clowns.

How Work From Home Scams Operate

You are lured into this type of scam by the promise of high pay earned while you are working in the comfort of your home. Depending on the type of product you are making, you will be required to purchase materials, equipment and training [usually at high prices ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars] in order to assemble your products.

Some work from home scam are also intended to sell appliances such as a sewing or sign-making machines from the company.

You are required to purchase the materials needed to complete the job, based on a promise that once the product is assembled, they will buy it back from you and on-sell it.

If you respond to these type of offers you must sign a contract which obligates you to buy a machine or materials, but which does not obligate the seller in any way.

You purchase the materials and make the product, but they never buy it back from you. You are left with products for which there is a poor market and little opportunity to recoup your purchase.

The seller may or may not offer or guarantee to buy back or pay for the finished product but they may initially ask you for a sample of your work which demonstrates your skills, for which they will charge you a small registration and evaluation fee. Then they refuse to pay for your work because it doesn’t meet their quality standards.

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