Work at Home Dreams Can Become Nightmares
A Home Business Article Contributed by Donna M. Brown
Can You Really Make Millions Each Week While You Work at Home?
It's not likely that you will make mountains of money weekly while you work at home unless you are working on your family's old invested empire. Think about it, if people could really make that kind of money stuffing envelopes from home, why would they ever leave?
Yet, companies continue to advertise everywhere gullible Americans might, in desperation, bite the bait waived at them by legitimate-seeming schemers. When you find an ad that's seems too good to be true, the United States Federal Trade Commission warns, it probably is.
"Many ads omit the fact that you may have to work many hours without pay. Or they don't disclose all the costs you will have to pay, " FTC officials warn in an article titled "Work at Home Schemes" online at
The companies sponsoring the ads also may demand that you pay for instructions or 'tutorial' software. Consumers deceived by these ads have lost thousands of dollars, in addition to their time and energy."
Work at Home Schemes Have Classic Traits
Schemers out to get your hard earned money and provide you little in return play on your desire to be successful, to be helpful and most of all, to be at home expending little effort for a lot of money.
According to the FTC, medical billing and other pre-packaged businesses make big promises, but deliver little income in the end. When you respond to an ad on a light pole, in your newspaper or online that promises big business in a wide-opened market, beware.
"If you respond, you'll get a sales pitch that may sound something like this: 'There's a crisis in the health care system, due partly to the overwhelming task of processing paper claims. The solution is electronic claim processing. Because only a small percentage of claims are transmitted electronically, the market for billing centers is wide open, " the FTC said.
Instead of clients and paying customers, your investment of $2, 000 to $8, 000 will get you training videos, testimonials, sample billing records and a sales pitch that will cost you, not make you more money.
Another classic pitch is the old "envelope stuffing" business pitch. Promoters promise to teach you how to make money stuffing envelopes at home for a small fee (an investment they promise you will recover many times over.
"Later - when it's too late - you find out that the promoter never had any employment to offer. Instead, for your fee, you're likely to get a letter telling you to place the same "envelope-stuffing" ad in newspapers or magazines, or to send the ad to friends and relatives. The only way you'll earn money is if people respond to your work-at-home ad, " according to the FTC.
Assembly or craft work attracts many who want to be creative and productive at home. You might invest hundreds of dollars and many hours of work for little or no return. Often the company that promises you work is, ironically, the very same company that can sell you the tools you need to perform the work or the products you have to purchase to fulfill a huge contract.
In the end you are likely to learn there never was a contract for the products you produced with your newly purchased machines. Sometimes these companies claim our work is sub-standard or unacceptable.
Who Can Help When You are Schemed out of Your Work at Home?
If you fall victim to what seemed like the most legitimate business opportunity, there are people who can help including the Federal Trade Commission, the Attorney General in your state or the state where the company is located, consumer protection offices, the Better Business Bureau and even your local postmaster. The U.S. Postal Service investigates fraudulent mail practices.
Also, be sure to notify the advertising manager of the publication that ran the ad that began your work at home nightmare. You can help prevent others from being taken in by schemers who take advantage of hard workers like you.
