Hopefully we’ve given you a better idea of what to look out for when you’re trying to avoid work from home scams. But there are some scams offering work from home that crop up again and again. Alarm bells should be ringing if see an advert or a website offering the following kinds of jobs, they will almost always be run by scammers.

Envelope Stuffing

An old favourite among scammers, envelope stuffing is as straightforward as it sounds. You will supposedly be paid money to stuff leaflets into envelopes on behalf of mail-order companies. Unfortunately, the vast majority of this work is now automised and machines tend to do all of the stuffing.

If you see an advert for this work from home scam, you might notice that it is offering surprisingly good money for such a simple job. But before you can start, you’ll be asked to send a ‘registration fee’ in return for further details or materials. All you will receive in return is an information pack telling you to put advertisements for the same position around your local area, drawing more people into sending you the same ‘registration fee’ and perpetuating the scam.

Assembly Work

Adverts for simple assembly work at home are also commonly revealed to be work from home scams. You could be requested to put together anything from greetings cards to small craft items, but first you will be asked to purchase the materials.

If this is a scam, the materials you receive will be worth a fraction of the money you have paid. On top of this, once you complete the work and send the items off, you will be told that your efforts have been rejected and returned to you as having failed quality control. No job would have been good enough to pass this fictional quality control; this work from home job is a scam and should be avoided.

Data Entry

Data entry is a bit trickier as there are many legitimate opportunities to work from home in such a role. But there are some key indicators that you are looking at a scam. If you have received an unsolicited job offer in this area through your email, there is a high chance that a con-artist is behind the position. Additionally, jobs in this area offering unrealistic wages while requesting advanced payment for training or materials are also likely to be scams.


The Job Scam

Finally, there’s the jobs scam. A scammer will offer help to homeworkers desperate for employment, in the form of contacts or links. The advert is likely to sound too good to be true, suggesting that employers will take you on without asking for references or a CV, or offering you direct contact with people who are guaranteed to hire you. Of course, all of this information will come at a price.

Once you’ve sent off your cash, if you’re lucky you might receive a few sheets of photocopied paper with lists of random business contact details. This will most likely be information you could have easily sourced yourself on the internet and there is absolutely no guarantee that the firms listed are open to receiving speculative applications from home workers. If you’re unlucky, you could well receive nothing at all.


Hopefully these guidelines will help you establish a successful career working from home, free from tricks and fraudsters. But if you’ve had the misfortune to fall victim to a scam like these, check out what to do next.