Work-at-home schemes don't pay

Would you fall for this nonsense?

Last March, I intentionally played dumb and signed up for several suspicious-looking work-at-home schemes to report and write a Consumer Reports Money article, “Beware of work-at-home stings.”

When you give your name, address, and credit card number to the promoters of get-rich-quick come-ons, they may sell your name to other scammers in search of an easy mark. Before last March, I don’t recall receiving any such offers. In the four and a half months since, however, I’ve received about a hundred print letters, postcards, catalogs, emails, and telemarketing calls promising riches without much work. So I guess I’m now a hot new prospect on the fraud industry’s sucker lists.

Among my mailbag of outrageous promises, tired cliches, and bad photos of “satisfied” customers were these most transparent claims:

• “Please keep what I tell you a secret…There has existed for many years an exclusive association, a secret society, of some of the world’s most famous and powerful people…This association has uncovered some shockingly powerful secrets…The association has analyzed your profile…It seems you, Jeffrey, possess several rare traits we are searching for. Because of these traits…you are eligible to become part of our exclusive club and to share our Greatest Kept Secrets, too, absolutely free!”

• “The worse the economy gets, the MORE money you make…[This business] has all the perks of your own business…no boss…no commute…no ‘office hours’…all the vacation you want…You can sit home and relax while you do this. It’s no wonder many people who do this make well over $100,000 every year!”

• “When my wife, my son, and I were driving to Texas to pursue my dream of investing in real estate, I made a promise to my wife, Veronica, that if I ever became successful, I would share what I learned with other people like you…[about] my easy system for flipping houses.”

• “I went from dead-broke to $50,000 a week in three months mailing cheap little postcards, and I’m convinced you can copy what I’m doing. If not, I’ll personally FedEx you a $500 check just for trying!”

• “A unique and daring idea turned a lazy teenager into a multi-millionaire…It’s given me a magnificent seven-bedroom house in sunny California worth over $2.5 million—100 percent paid for. It’s given me not just one but three cars: a brand new custom built Hummer H2, a Jaguar sports convertible, and a brand new flying spur Bentley. In addition, I recently bought a lush 335-acre property in beautiful Costa Rica where I’m building my ‘vacation retreat.’ I paid $2.8 million for it—all cash! I even have my own corporate jet which I fly there myself!...My goal in life is now dedicated to helping others earn as much money as they need to achieve a luxurious lifestyle. THIS MEANS YOU!”

As easy as it is to see through these come-ons, sadly, bad guys rope more than 3 million consumers into bogus distributorships, work-at-home plans, franchises, pyramid schemes, and business opportunity scams each year, according to a 2007 Federal Trade Commission survey. People most at risk of being conned by all types of fraudsters include some of America’s most vulnerable groups, who have more debt than can comfortably handle, earn less than $40,000 a year, have great expectations that their income will be “much higher” in the next three years, didn’t graduate from high school, are age 25 to 34, and/or are minorities.

Has someone among your family and friends fallen prey to a scam artist? Briefly tell us their story, how much they lost, and your theory about how and why they fell for it--but please leave out the last name of the victim as well as the name of the alleged perpetrator (we’ll remove those if you forget).—Jeff Blyskal

Comments

[David]

Good article. Thanks. Keep up the good work.

[Anon]

Good article? All he did was write about some mail he got, and what they letters said.... there's no details about how they work, what's involved from the being singing up or anything else useful.

Terrible article!

[Peter]

In addition to all the scams, there are also a number of companies which legitimately hire home-based employees or contractors.

The key difference between a scam and a legitimate job is that a legitimate employer won't require you to send them any money or buy any product.

[Aaron Poehler]

Well that went nowhere. If I wanted to read spam I would look in my junk email folder, thanks for nothing.

[Amanda]

“When my wife, my son, and I were driving to Texas to pursue my dream of investing in real estate, I made a promise to my wife, Veronica, that if I ever became successful, I would share what I learned with other people like you…[about] my easy system for flipping houses.”
_______

That's Armando Montelongo from Flip This House

[Dan]

Those of you complaining about this blog post do realize you have to click the link in the first paragraph in order to read the story, right?

[humphrmi]

I'd love to say "good article", but it left a little to be desired. It's good that you warn people about the hazards of these scams, but:

- Did you try any out?
- What were the results?

Needs a little more work, I'm afraid.

[humphrmi]

My apologies to the author, I didn't see the link to the larger article.

[Janice]

Dan - They didn't know.

[George]

Yes, some saw the link, but didn't jump because: 1. We wanted to read the rest of the article before going off to read what could be quickly interpreted as a prior article, and 2. Some, being so dismayed at the apparently content free article, forgot it in their shock!

It would have been better to repeat the link at the bottom of the page with "(click to) read the rest of the article."

[Luis]

You said you went from dead-broke to $50,000 a week in three months mailing cheap little postcards. Thas quite a lot isn't it ? Congratulations