There are plenty of untrustworthy sites out there in the world of working from home, right along with the legit money-making opportunities. Survey scam sites seem to be particularly prevalent. You need to learn everything you can about spotting scam sites because there’s always going to be somebody looking to take you — and your wallet — for a ride. Here are some tips on how to protect yourself from this:

  1. Be suspicious of any sites asking you to pay for information on making money. While some work-from-home opportunities do come with charges (starter kits, background check fees, etc.), you should never have to pay for information that is free if you search for it yourself.
  2. Be suspicious of any sites that do not have pertinent contact information listed. If it is a real business, there will be a way to contact the company. There should be an email address, contact form, or phone number at the very least. If the website you visit doesn’t have any way for you to contact someone who is affiliated with the company, watch out. Many fraudulent sites won’t list any contact information at all because they don’t want you to be able to find them after they’ve ripped you off. If something about the company seems suspicious to you and they do have contact info listed, go ahead and try to contact them. If you can’t reach anyone or no one ever responds to your email, you might need to stay away.
  3. Use your favorite search engine (Google, Bing, etc.) and type in the company name followed by the word “scam” and see what results you get. If this company ever ripped anyone off, the people who were ripped off have probably mentioned it online in order to warn others. You might also consider looking the company up on the BBB (Better Business Bureau) to see what their score is. Keep in mind that finding just one negative review of a company does not mean it’s untrustworthy. You can find negative reviews on almost any company, but if there are no – or very few – positive reviews to go along with the negatives, it’s likely you should stay away. Always do your own research before signing up for anything.
  4. Be wary of vague information. Many shady sites will have a long, drawn-out testimonial complete with pictures of fancy houses and cars. The testimonial will likely be the life story of someone who was poor but became rich by getting involved in the “wonderful money-making opportunity.” The odd thing is, the webpage never really tells you what the money-making opportunity is or what you have to do to make these millions. When you get to the bottom of the page, you’ll probably find a form where you can put in your credit card information to get the details you want. If you pay, you either won’t get anything, or the information you do get will be something you could have found yourself that you in no way can make millions of dollars doing or even anywhere close to that amount.
  5. Avoid websites that promise to tell you “how to work from home” or provide resources for working from home for a fee. There are a lot of websites out there like this, and you should avoid them like the plague. If you pay the fee, they’ll give you the same information I’m already giving you on this site for free.
  6. Don’t give any of your personal information away without first feeling 100 percent confident that an opportunity is legitimate. You can never be too careful when it comes to identity theft!
  7. Here’s a list of excellent sites to visit for researching whether or not various work at home jobs and other earning opportunities are scams:

Even if the sites above do not indicate that an opportunity is a scam, it’s still very helpful to know what others say about the work. Reading about others experiences with different work from home jobs should help you decide whether or not the jobs are for you or if you should pass.

Follow this advice, and you’ll soon become a pro at spotting scam sites in your search for legitimate work-at-home jobs. Also, I won’t list any untrustworthy sites on my blog, and I do extensive research before listing anything to be 100 percent sure that the things I list are legitimate opportunities. While learning how to spot scams, I came to expect a certain number of negative reviews from just about anything. If I find more negative than positive reviews, I just won’t list the company. In the event I discover that a site I have listed is in fact fraudulent, I will take the listing down immediately.