Read every section of every job description carefully. You want to look for things like a company name, required skills, etc. You know — a typical job description. You’re often provided with instructions to apply. When there are any links provided, they take you to a website that looks like it belongs to a company or an agency of some sort.
If you click through any links and you get to what looks like a sales page with a fee or payment button, you’re most likely dealing with a scam. Not always, but almost always.
Here’s how it works:
You click on the ad. You get to the landing page, which is essentially a sales page. You have to pay a fee (anywhere from $20 to $150 or more!) to access the materials/start your membership/get your starter kit. However they put it, you have to pay to get it.
Here’s what happens when you sign up for one of these programs: You receive a packet of information telling you how to post the same ad on various job boards and websites. You make money by posting the same ad you clicked on, and you get paid every time someone pays using your ad. However, you don’t get paid anything if they don’t. Congratulations! You’ve just joined a pyramid scheme.
Now, don’t get me wrong — paying for things like memberships and starter kits can be entirely legitimate. But you have to be extremely careful when looking at any company that wants you to do so. More often than not, a membership or training program should be something that supports you in your work — and not actually the source of your work.
Same with starter kits — many direct sales organizations
require you to buy a starter kit to get started with the company. I love direct sales and I think they’re a legitimate way to work for yourself. I see a big difference between a “pay to play” job with a company you can’t find much information about… and getting a starter kit of inventory with the intent to use that kit as collateral to build your branch of an established direct sales organization.
“Easy Money” Isn’t Real
Let’s face it: if there were really a legitimate way to make hundreds or even thousands of dollars every month simply by doing simple data entry or copying and pasting some stuff, everyone would be doing it. The top companies that operated at the high of this particular scam’s era would still be in business. You’d be able to find tons of positive reviews that looked and felt legitimate and weren’t just hype.
If anyone is promising you “easy money” — where you get paid tons of money for doing basically nothing, right out of the gate — you need to think twice about taking them up on your offer. There are work-at-home jobs that are certainly fun and don’t necessarily require significant skills, but anything that promises you a major payoff for doing simple data entry will not go well for you.
Ultimately you need to trust your gut when you see anything like this, and if you’re in any doubt about how legitimate the job is, then either close it out and look for something else… or sign up if you’re willing to lose the money you’ll pay “just in case” it actually turns into something legitimate.
