Consumer Fraud Reporting
Work from Home
Reporting on the Latest Frauds, Scams, Fake Lotteries, Spams and Hoaxes

 

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Work from Home Scams

"Crazy like a Fox?"
No, They're "Thick as a Brick"

What are work from home scams?

"Imagine owning your own business, being your own boss, working only a few hours a week, but still making lots of money - all from your own home ..."

"Are they crazy?  Yes, crazy like a fox!"

"This billionaire spent months researching his next big investment!  Go here next!"

Advertisements from work-from-home schemes like Crazyfox (Crazy like a fox) and other scams are bombarding TV, radio and the internet. The general public has the naive belief that these must be true because "there are laws against false advertising" and "the government wouldn't let them say it on tv, if it weren't true."

Those beliefs are simply not true.  There are many scams and outright lies being advertised on television (see Kinoki foot pads for an example!).  The government has to become aware of the scam and see it as serious enough to take action, and as slow as government is, that could take years.  Scammers know this and feel safe in spreading their scams on major television networks!

It is up to you to protect yourself! Be wary of ‘work from home’ schemes where people are offered the possibility of working from home with the potential of earning thousands of dollars. An employment opportunity to work from your own home earning a great wage which may be no more than stuffing envelopes, but to get the material to stuff the envelopes you have to send money away, often to nothing more than a PO Box address. In return you receive the information that you have to photocopy at your own expense and then stuff the envelopes. Recently reported work from home schemes offer you the opportunity to earn thousands processing emails.

Work from home schemes may also be promoted through newspaper advertisements, direct mail drops or through unsolicited emails asking you to visit a website for more information.

Types of home-based business schemes

Common work-from-home schemes are:

• stuffing envelopes
• medical transcription
• buy and selling real estate, "with no money down!"
• Investment schemes
• data entry,
• processing applications
• selling or reselling the schemes themselves

Other work from home type schemes require you to:

• make gift items from home or
• grow flowers for the export market,

but then require you to also sell these products yourself.

One characteristic common to these schemes is that you are required to invest or send away money before you can start work.

As good as the "wages" sound, the promoters don't give the full story. The schemes are often no more than phony get-rich quick schemes - where you're not the one getting rich!  In fact, our own investigations show that almost ALL work-from-home schemes, "passive residual income", make-money-in-your-spare-time and other get-rich schemes are pyramid schemes, scams or simply worthless.

How to check out a work from home scam

• Ask for a street address, not just a PO Box, and find out as much as you can about the company and its operations.
• Ask to talk to other employees - and to ensure they are for real, visit them to see what type of work is involved and how they are organized.
• Ask to see examples of the final product and the work required.
• Ask what materials are supplied, or not supplied.
• Ask how you will be paid - and in what currency.
• Ask where the business is incorporated and where it's business license is filed.
• Research the product - is it a viable money-maker, and are the proposed returns achievable?
• Do your sums - ask yourself whether the time required to do the job, in conjunction with the start up or material costs, match the returns to be expected.
• Use common-sense: if you have never heard of the product, or their products are very expensive or there is a fee to sign up as a "distributor" or "consultant", those are tips that it is a multi-level-marketing scam.
• Click here for the United States Postal Service's pdf explanation of work from home scams.

Questions to Ask

Legitimate work-at-home program sponsors should tell you - in writing - what's involved in the program they are selling. Here are some questions you might ask a promoter:

• What tasks will I have to perform? (Ask the program sponsor to list every step of the job.)
• Will I be paid a salary or will my pay be based on commission?
• Who will pay me?
• Will I be expected to send money via Western Union?
• When will I get my first paycheck?
• What is the total cost of the work-at-home program, including supplies, equipment and membership fees? What will I get for my money?

The answers to these questions may help you determine whether a work-at-home program is appropriate for your circumstances, and whether it is legitimate or simply a scam.

You also might want to check out the company with your local consumer protection agency, state Attorney General and the Better Business Bureau, not only where the company is located, but also where you live. These organizations can tell you whether they have received complaints about the work-at-home program that interests you. But be wary: the absence of complaints doesn't necessarily mean the company is legitimate. Unscrupulous companies may settle complaints, change their names or move to avoid detection.

Where to Complain

If you have spent money and time on a work-at-home program and now believe the program may not be legitimate, contact the company and ask for a refund. Let company representatives know that you plan to notify officials about your experience. If you can't resolve the dispute with the company, file a complaint with these organizations:

• The Federal Trade Commission works for the consumer to prevent fraud and deception. Call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357).
• The Attorney General's office in your state or the state where the company is located. The office will be able to tell you whether you're protected by any state law that may regulate work-at-home programs.
• Your local consumer protection offices.
• Your local Better Business Bureau.
• Your local postmaster. The U.S. Postal Service investigates fraudulent mail practices.
• The advertising manager of the publication that ran the ad. The manager may be interested to learn about the problems you've had with the company.

Read the fine print on the commercials!

Almost all of the scam work-from-home schemes advertised on television have fine print briefly superimposed along the bottom of the screen, usually while something distracting is being shown, like a pretty blond in a bathing suit talking about how she bought the mansion behind her with the money she earned. Crazyfox.com and other commercials typically say:

• "There are no guarantees of specific income nor are there any representations of actual income.
• Amounts stated are for illustrative purposes only and are not typical.
• Persons depicted are paid actors."

The Crazyfox31.com website has this at the bottom:

• The incomes depicted are not typical and represent a small percentage of actual participants. There are no guarantees that participants will be able to achieve the income levels depicted. Each individual's success will be determined by his or her desire, dedication, effort, ability to follow directions and personal talent. The actual contents of success kit may vary than what is depicted.

On another Crazy like a fox alias website, www.49chance.com  you will find this statement (seen on May 5, 2008):

• There are no guarantees of specific income, nor are there any representations of actual income.  Amounts stated are for illustrative purposes only and are not typical. Persons depicted are paid actors.

Those statements ought to be a BIG clue that they are selling you an illusion... in other words, a scam.  Read the statements again.  Essentially they are saying that everything you hear the paid actors saying is NOT typical and will not be backed up by anything.

ther printed small print negates almost everything the actors are saying.

Generally, you're paying for a pretty worthless booklet which tells you how wonderful it would be to be your own boss and make big money, set your own hours, etc., but no plan or details on how to achieve that.

Of course, when you ordered the "kit" you gave the scammers your name, phone number and address; which they will promptly sell to many other companies who will then start calling you to sell more services and schemes.

Examples sent in by visitors:

• See this page for examples of emails promoting work-from-home products that are either worthless or flat-out scams.
• Click here to check out these scam, fraud, or just plain worthless work-from-home schemes

Copyright CFR 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008  - Definition of scam, fraud, etc. -  Legal disclaimer 
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