By Dan Mitchell, MLM Blog Correspondent
From MomLogic:
You've probably seen a slew of cyber solicitations these days popping up everywhere in emails, web links and scrolling online advertisements. The intriguing at-home business opportunities promise a steady stream of income with flexible hours from the comfort of your home. The messages draw you in with enticing advertisements offering thousands of dollars a month to post links online. Or they provide testimonials from a jobless mom who claims she went from rags to riches working from home. But don't be fooled by these work-at-home schemes.
As the unemployment rate soars so does the number of people who fall into the traps of these bogus businesses. "The legitimate sites are the exception, most are crooks," said Randy Duermyer a home base entrepreneur who warns, "there's no pot of gold out there where you get something for nothing." Randy has worked more than a decade as a full-time telecommuter who runs his own home business and helps other small business get off the ground. He also writes a blog for About.com about home-based businesses and has recently seen a surge in the number of complaints from his readers who are getting duped by con artists.
In a recent blog post, Randy discussed the prolific Google work from home scheme that promises full-time income for part-time work. The ads offer to send you a "how-to" start up kit for free, except for the small shipping and handling fee. That's how you get hooked. Once you provide a credit card number the thieves will keep charging you, sometimes as much as $100 a month. "If you don't read the fine print you're going to get yourself in trouble," says Randy. Most people don't read the terms and conditions where the devil is in the details. Some of Randy's readers learned that the hard way.
"I should have known better! I was supposed to receive a CD or Kit that had detailed info in it," wrote Heidi. After waiting a week for a CD that never arrived, Heidi called the contact number and realized she was being charged $84.95 a month for nothing. "Scammers! I have filed a report against them," wrote Heidi. Another reader, Jettie wrote: "My kids say I'm the smartest mom around. Can't believe I got sucked in. Way too late for me to realize it was a scam." Jettie was lured by the idea of finding part-time work for her teenage kids. Now she's feeling stressed out about canceling the charge to her credit card. "Still can't believe I got so stupid this morning," Jettie wrote.
These get rich quick schemes have been around for years but they've taken on a more sinister spin by appearing affiliated with reputable companies such as Twitter and Google. That's all part of the ruse. "I needed a job and it sounded fine especially because the Google name is there. I can't believe Google would be this deceitful," wrote Terry.
