Is it a Scam or Legit Work-at-Home Opportunity?

You've probably seen the ads already:  "Would you like to make $5,000 a Month Posting Links on Google?" or "How Did This Computer-Illiterate Canadian Mother of Two Start Making $5,000 a Month Posting Links?" Perhaps they’re on your Facebook home page. Or maybe they pop up when you visit another favourite site.

The ads usually appear to be written by someone like you - in your home town or nearby. They are very casually written, maybe with a few spelling errors, and the person in the ad is usually described as ordinary or not computer-savvy, and as someone who could "use a little extra money." (And who couldn’t?)

If you believe the ads, somehow the person pictured has stumbled across a work-at-home way to make money on the Internet by posting links to web sites. (The actual way money is made is never revealed on these sites; you must pay a fee, usually a few dollars, to discover how it works.) The ads usually include photos of what look like cheques from Google - sometimes for large amounts, even thousands of dollars!

But are these sites legit? If not, what risks are you exposed to if you sign up with one?

Complaints about these work-at-home offers are pouring in

Over the past weeks and months, complaints about these kinds of work-at-home sites have been flooding in to consumer advocacy and government offices. Over and over, people say they signed up to learn how to follow the same business model and their credit cards were charged, but they never received anything in response. In other words, they were victims of a scam.

Risk of identity theft

The risk posed by these ads may be more than just a few dollars lost on a credit card. In the worst cases, swindlers have lured Canadians into providing personal information online, including social insurance and credit card numbers, putting them at risk of identity theft. And with the recent downturn in the Canadian economy, government watchdogs in Canada are concerned that a growing number of people are at risk of falling victim to these con jobs.

"Now more than ever, consumers and businesses can ill afford to lose money to scam artists," says Melanie Aitken, Interim Commissioner of Competition at the Competition Bureau of Canada, the federal government agency charged with protecting and promoting competitive markets in Canada. "We expect both businesses and consumers to be more vulnerable to scams as they look to minimize expenses."

The Competition Bureau received a total of 15,000 complaints in 2008 about "mass marketing" fraud, which includes Internet, phone, and postal fraud. At the same time, the number of complaints made to the Better Business Bureau of Canada about "work at home" scams has also exploded over the past five years, rising from 124 complaints in 2003 to 59,730 complaints in 2008 - an increase of nearly 500 per cent!

If it’s too good to be true...

The kinds of work-at-home scams that have been appearing on the Internet in recent months are more sophisticated than ever before, and they are specifically targeting people who have recently lost jobs. As a result, the Competition Bureau has released a tip sheet warning Canadians about the potential risks associated with work-at-home scams. Their warnings include:

• Be cautious of job ads that claim "no experience necessary."
• Search for background information about the business.
• Beware of ads that include exaggerated claims about the amount of money to be earned.

Most likely, the people behind the Facebook and other "work-at-home posting links" ads do make money by posting links - but the links are to their own ads, which ask people like you and me to sign up to receive their non-existent Google money-making guides. Be cautious about how you share your information online, and like the old saying goes: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!