The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a surge in work-from-home scams. Scammers are taking advantage of people’s desire to find work they can do from home by posing as legitimate companies and offering fake jobs.
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Work-From-Home Scams Summary:
There are many different types of work-from-home scams, but some of the most common include:
- Envelope stuffing: Scammers offer people jobs stuffing envelopes from home. They typically require the victim to pay a fee upfront, and then they never send any work.
- Product assembly: Scammers offer people jobs assembling products from home. They typically send the victim the materials they need to assemble the products, but they never pay them for their work.
- Data entry: Scammers offer people jobs entering data from home. They typically require the victim to pay a fee upfront, and then they never send any data to enter.
- Reselling merchandise: Scammers offer people jobs reselling merchandise from home. They typically send the victim the merchandise to sell, but they never pay them for the merchandise they sell.
How To Prevent Work-From-Home Scams
There are a few things you can do to protect yourself from work-from-home scams:
- Be wary of any job that seems too good to be true. If a job offer promises you a lot of money for very little work, it’s probably a scam.
- Do your research before applying for a work-from-home job. Check the company’s website and social media pages to make sure they’re legitimate.
- Never pay money upfront for a work-from-home job. Legitimate companies will never ask you to pay money upfront.
- Be careful about giving out your personal information. Scammers may ask you for your social security number, bank account information, or other personal information. Don’t give out this information unless you’re sure the company is legitimate.
What to do if you’re a victim of a work-from-home scam
If you think you’ve been a victim of a work-from-home scam, there are a few things you can do:
- Report the scam to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). You can file a complaint online at ftc.gov/complaint.
- Contact your bank or credit card company. If you paid money to the scammer, you may be able to get your money back.
- Change your passwords. Scammers may have access to your personal information, so it’s important to change your passwords for your bank accounts, email accounts, and other online accounts.
Reporting work-from-home scams
It’s important to report work-from-home scams so that the FTC and other law enforcement agencies can track down the scammers and bring them to justice. You can report a work-from-home scam to the FTC online at reportfraud.ftc.gov.
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By following these tips, you can help protect yourself from work-from-home scams. If you think you’ve been a victim of a scam, report it to the FTC and take steps to protect your personal information.
10 Types Of Work-From-Home Scams That Are Prevalent In 2023
- Envelope stuffing: Scammers offer people jobs stuffing envelopes from home. They typically require the victim to pay a fee upfront, and then they never send any work.
- Product assembly: Scammers offer people jobs assembling products from home. They typically send the victim the materials they need to assemble the products, but they never pay them for their work.
- Data entry: Scammers offer people jobs entering data from home. They typically require the victim to pay a fee upfront, and then they never send any data to enter.
- Reselling merchandise: Scammers offer people jobs reselling merchandise from home. They typically send the victim the merchandise to sell, but they never pay them for the merchandise they sell.
- Secret shopper: Scammers offer people jobs as secret shoppers. They typically require the victim to pay a fee upfront, and then they never send any assignments.
- Internet research: Scammers offer people jobs doing internet research. They typically require the victim to pay a fee upfront, and then they never send any research tasks.
- Customer service: Scammers offer people jobs doing customer service from home. They typically require the victim to pay a fee upfront, and then they never send any customer service calls.
- Medical transcription: Scammers offer people jobs transcribing medical records from home. They typically require the victim to pay a fee upfront, and then they never send any medical records to transcribe.
- Virtual assistant: Scammers offer people jobs as virtual assistants. They typically require the victim to pay a fee upfront, and then they never send any work.
- Work-from-home training: Scammers offer people training programs that promise to teach them how to get work-from-home jobs. They typically require the victim to pay a fee upfront, and then they never provide any training.
