Hot on the heels of news that search giant Google is taking legal action against web organisations which use its name to promote fraudulent homeworking schemes, it has emerged other top web brands like Dell, Microsoft and Yahoo! are being abused by scammers peddling fake "work from home" packages.
Online security experts at Websense say typical scams use a combination of advertising space (purchased legitimately), false news stories and the lure of job opportunities with well-known organisations. However, a handling fee is charged for the associated homeworking packages, leaving some individuals with sizeable credit card bills.
"The 'news article' or 'blog' talks about how easy it is to make money with the featured Google Kit and how the financial lives of those who did changed for the better," Websense explains in a blog post. "The templates used all have the same look and feel, but the actual source code is often changed from one to another to avoid easy detection."
It has been suggested that the ongoing growth of homeworking scams indicates the perpetrators' exploitation of a population "weakened" by the economic downturn.
Earlier this month, Google revealed it had filed a lawsuit against Pacific WebWorks and "other unnamed defendants". 
