November 17, 2000

Get rich, work-at-home offers abound on Web; be very careful

It all sounds so simple, so convenient, such an easy way to get rich. You log into your computer, go directly to your e-mail. There great opportunities at a click-clack of the computer keyboard while you work in the safety and comfort of home.

The e-mail items proclaim something such as this:

. . . MEDICAL BILLING. Work From Home-Full or Part Time. From $24K to $50K+ per year. Home Computer Required. CALL NOW!

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Or . . . Envelopes=$4000. From Home! $4 per envelope you stuff GUARANTEED!

And then you might say: “Wow! This is great! I can just work here at home. Oh, I see there’s a small fee. But, hey, no problem. I can make enough money in less than a week to cover that!”

Another sucker was just born.

There is nothing new about work-at-home offers. They have been advertised for decades in newspapers, magazine advertisements and through bulk-rate mail. With the advent of the Internet and the proliferation of the home computer, the cyber-scammers emerged with their phony get-rich-quick-at-home promotions — electronically dispatched into e-mail address boxes at digital speed.

During the past decade, the personal home computer and high-speed modem with easy access to the Internet created an incredibly large and receptive marketing target. It was much like the transformation in the early 1950s from radio to black-and-white television and rabbit-ear antenna.

“The Better Business Bureau (BBB) suggests using extreme caution when responding to any such offer to make easy money from the comfort of your home,´ said Ken Hunter, president and chief executive officer of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, the umbrella organization for the country’s BBBs.

“While such promotions claim high earnings and short hours with little or no experience, BBB files nationwide indicate no evidence of anyone making the promised money,” Hunter said.

The BBB has updated its “Work-at-Home Schemes” publication to increase the awareness of those who find so lucrative these offers by high-tech con artists. The brochure is also posted on the BBB central Web site. It provides consumers with the very latest descriptions of common work-at-home scams, and the ways they can be avoided.

As the old rule of thumb goes: If it sounds to good to be true, chances are that it is. Red flags should flying everywhere if the electronic pitch in the e-mail states that you must buy something in order to “join” the program.

The BBB warns that the home scheme promoter will never offer you regular salaried employment while promising huge profits. Scammers will usually require a payment of a fee for instructions or merchandise before telling you how the plan operates. They will assure you of guaranteed markets and a huge demand for your handiwork. They will take your money and give you little or nothing in return.

There are three main types of work-at-home schemes commonly aimed at unsuspecting home computer users:

* Online home business. Capitalization of the e-commerce boom by scamming useless printed guides on computer-related, work-at-home jobs.

* Medical claims processing. Fraudulent ads stating that doctors’ offices or insurance companies will pay top dollar for outside claims processing workers. Most victims end up with high-cost training sessions and no way to earn any money.

* Assembly work at-home. Scamming investment of hundreds of dollars for instructions, materials and long work hours. This leaves victims with merchandise that is difficult or impossible to sell.

Legitimate home-based businesses can be found over the Internet through the National Association of Home-Based Businesses (NAHBB). At that Web site, the aspiring home-based entrepreneur can click onto the U.S.A. Home Based Business Information Superhighway, which was established to help home-managed businesses.

The NAHBB Superhighway combined three of the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. economy: home-based businesses, online communication services and business information databases. When combined, these markets serve more than 200 classifications of home-based businesses with nationwide marketing capabilities.

Hundreds of thousands of legitimate companies are listed on the Internet and registered with search engines. Each new work-at-home business can access the Intranet HomeSite program and Internet marketing level that best suits its particular business needs.

If you’re being solicited by e-mail promoting riches at home with minimal work involved and a personal investment, however, BBB officials warn that getting involved in a work-at-home scheme that could have you perpetrating a fraud by selling the program to others.

Cyber-scammers can be prosecuted in most states under statutes called the “pyramid promotional scheme,” a program using a pyramid or chain process to entice others to bring more participants into the scheme. The hook is to pay a fee with the opportunity of being paid by others to join.

“Consumers should also be aware that they risk investigation and possible prosecution by postal or other law enforcement agencies if they become involved in promoting one of these schemes,” Hunter said.

The Colorado Revised Statutes prohibit pyramid schemes that require participants to pay more than $50 “for the opportunity to receive a payoff for inducing others to become participants.” Colorado considers this a minimum of a class 1 misdemeanor and up to a class 6 felony for each count. Also, Colorado civil penalties statutes call for forfeiture of a maximum of $10,000 for each violation.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the U.S. Department of Justice and law enforcement officials from 29 states last March launched “Project Biz-illion$,” a national dragnet on traditional business opportunity scams that appear in newspapers and Internet work-at-home schemes that bilk hundreds of thousands of consumers out of tens of millions of dollars a year.

The BBBureau and the FTC suggest the best way to avoid being scammed is to be educated on how to spot Internet scams and how to avoid them:

* Collect and check references carefully.

* Ask the program sponsor to list every step of the job. Know what tasks you will be required to perform.

* Take steps to protect your office computers. Always run an anti-virus program to help prevent computer viruses.

* Ask who will pay you, if you will be paid a salary or on commission. Find out when you will get your first paycheck.

* Instruct your company staff to carefully evaluate e-mail from businesses they do not recognize before determining whether to respond.

* Ask program sponsors to tell you-in writing and for free what’s involved. Legitimate work-at-home sponsors will do it.

* Ask what the total cost of the work-at-home program is, including supplies, equipment and membership fees. What will you get for your money?

* Always check out online companies with an impartial outside organization, such as the BBB, before paying for merchandise or services. Contact your BBB for a reliability report or look for the “BBBOnline Reliability Seal” on the company’s Web page.

It all sounds so simple, so convenient, such an easy way to get rich. You log into your computer, go directly to your e-mail. There great opportunities at a click-clack of the computer keyboard while you work in the safety and comfort of home.

The e-mail items proclaim something such as this:

. . . MEDICAL BILLING. Work From Home-Full or Part Time. From $24K to $50K+ per year. Home Computer Required. CALL NOW!

Or . . . Envelopes=$4000. From Home! $4 per envelope you stuff GUARANTEED!

And then you might say: “Wow! This is great! I can just work here at home. Oh,…

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