How to know if a work from home job is a SCAM!

Updated: Aug 24, 2021

Wondering if a job opportunity is real or a scam? Watch out for these signs to identify fake jobs and save yourself from being a prey.

Internet fraud is on the rise with a large number of scammers targeting job seekers. They are often looking to take advantage of mothers at home or those in desperate need of a job or some extra income. These scam opportunities could arrive through email, websites, print or even through a friend.

Know the rule in identifying any scam - if it is too good to be true, it probably is. On other occasions it could be hard to identify a work-from-home scam. Here are some of the signs that will help you protect yourself.

1. Watch out for the red flags.

Learn the difference between a legitimate opportunity and a scam. Go through as many job postings as possible and you may notice a pattern when it comes to scam jobs. These jobs may have a poorly written job description with plenty of grammatical errors, no job responsibilities listed, unusable contact information, an unprofessional email and a promise to earn a huge amount of money. Scammers may even reach out to you directly stating that they received your resume online, although you may have never applied for it. They may not even take you through the entire interview process and hire you right away.

2. Use your common sense.

Always use your common sense and go with your gut feeling. If a job offer feels fishy, go with your intuition. Besides that, a job that promotes itself in search engine ads and on social media as a "legitimate work-at-home job" most likely is not legitimate. Also, no company can offer an outrageous amount of money for a job that involves very less work to be done. It is just not profitable for any company.

3. Do a complete research.

Research about the company on Google, LinkedIn and other social media platforms. Finding information does not guarantee that the company is legit although if you are unable to find anything, it is most likely a scam. Check for reviews online and if you have an intuition that it is a scam, you can search for the company name followed by the word "scam" on Google. There could be other possible victims who have shared their experiences online.

Scammers may also create fake websites and use fake emails representing authentic companies. They may also impersonate an employee from the company. In such cases, note down any spelling and grammar mistakes in the website/email and contact the authentic company on LinkedIn or the employee that the scammer is impersonating, for verification.

4. Ask questions.

On being contacted for the job, be sure to ask plenty of questions about the company, their products and services, other employees, job responsibilities, the pay etc. If they avoid the questions or are unable to give a clear answer, they are most likely scammers.

5. Never pay for any job opportunity.

Scammers may often ask you to wire funds or pay a fee to get the job. Legitimate jobs do not require you to pay any fees. Any job that requires you to give your bank information or credit card should be verified before handing the information over.

Apart from that, a genuine job should not have a program or a system involved where you are required to pay a membership/joining fee or purchase a highly-priced product/service. This is very often the case with network marketing or multilevel marketing scams.

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