With the jobless rate as high as it is, people are desperate and may turn to dangerous sources in order to earn money. According to the FBI, victims are often hired by criminals to process payments, transfer funds, or reship products. These job scams involve the victims receiving and cashing fraudulent checks, transferring illegally obtained funds for the criminals, or receiving stolen merchandise and shipping it to the criminals.

Other victims sign up to be a ''mystery shopper,'' receiving checks with instructions to cash the checks and wire the funds to ''test'' a company's services. Victims are told they will be compensated with a portion of the merchandise or funds. Unfortunately, the checks are fraudulent even though they may take 10-14 days to be rejected by the bank. Work-at-home schemes attract otherwise innocent individuals, causing them to become part of criminal schemes without realizing they are engaging in illegal behavior.

Job scams often provide criminals the opportunity to commit identity theft when victims provide their personal information, sometimes even bank account information, to their potential employer. The criminal/employer can then use the victim's information to open credit cards, post online auctions, register websites, etc., in the victim's name to commit additional crimes.

Look in the "Fraud Fighter's Library" in the navigation panel to the left for a Tip Sheet on how to protect yourself from job search scams.

Be sure to check out any potential Business Opportunities by contacting:

• Your State Attorney’s Office
• Your city or state Better Business Bureau
• Go to http://www.naag.org  for more information on the National Attorneys General actions on consumer fraud and "work at home" scams.

 

Warning issued by the Better Business Bureau 11/2/2009

For more information, go to www.bbb.org

The Better Business Bureau has received more than 1,500 complaints about several dozen Web sites that are trading on the Google name to scam people who want to learn about making money from home. Because the sites often use the Google name and prominently display its iconic logo, consumers often assume they are getting a job with Google when in fact they were getting taken in by yet another work-at-home scheme.

“Many families are looking for ways to earn extra money for the holidays and Web sites touting the huge money-making potential of working from home often seem like an answer to prayer,” said Alison Southwick, BBB spokesperson. “Unfortunately, most work-at-home opportunities don’t deliver on what they promise and victims find that instead of making a few extra dollars, they lose hundreds.”

Two Web sites, Google Treasure Chest and Google Money Tree, quickly racked up 523 and 782 BBB complaints respectively before being called out by the Federal Trade Commission and state Attorneys General for misleading consumers. The Web sites have been taken down, however, BBB has received complaints about many other work-at-home schemes using similar tactics, including Google Biz Kit, Google Cash, Google Money Profits, and Google Success Kit.

While the schemes go by many different names and are found on many different Web sites, the complaints to BBB tell a similar story. Complainants state that they signed up online to receive a free trial of a CD or access to information that would show them how to make money from home using Google. Consumers had to provide a credit or debit card number to cover shipping — which is typically only a few dollars.

Complainants to BBB state that they were billed before their trial ended — or never even received the CD — and continued to be billed after they had cancelled their order. Complainants also found mystery charges from several other businesses for services they didn’t realize they were signing up for with their “free” trial. One Georgia complainant’s bank account was debited $433 by various entities including Grant Finder, Web Training, Powersale, Safelock, Google Chest, Search Chest, A1Member and Auction Support.

Before signing up for any work-at-home opportunity, BBB advises job hunters to:
• Review the business’s BBB Reliability Report® at bbb.org to see if BBB reports complaints or other concerns you need to consider.

• Beware of any offer that guarantees a lot of money for little effort and no experience.

• Thoroughly read the Web site’s terms and conditions, keeping in mind that a free trial could cost you in the end.

• Be wary of work-at-home offers that use logos from Google, Twitter or other prominent online businesses. Just because Google is in the name, it doesn’t mean the business is affiliated with Google.

• Research the Web site with www.Whois.net  or a similar site for determining domain name ownership. If the site is anonymous or individually registered, beware.

For more advice on evaluating work-at-home companies and schemes, visit www.bbb.org.