Participants often find additional fees needed
| • | Work-from-home jobs often too good to be true |
| • | Work-at-home veteran says success is possible |
By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
Sheryl is a phone operator for the National Information Corp. in Spring Hill, Fla. Like other work-at-home representatives contacted for this report, Sheryl says she's not allowed to give out her last name.
Sheryl is one of several of the company's operators Hawai'i callers might talk to should they respond to the national advertisement the company placed in a local shopper. In a scripted introduction,
Sheryl describes her employer as "one of the leading experts in leading information."
The company is is a member of the Florida Chamber of Commerce and the West Florida Better Business Bureau, with whom it has a "satisfactory" record.
Sheryl says the company "researches" work-from-home businesses and compiles a catalog of "good opportunities." The catalog costs $32 (plus $7.99 for shipping and handling) and includes the names and contact information for 110 work-from-home businesses.
As its advertisement reads, there are "varieties" to choose from. But it's clear from Sheryl's pitch that the company would prefer you choose one of the 32 assembly companies with which the company has contact. According to Sheryl, a person can earn $350 for assembling 50 pairs of beaded earrings or $200 for assembling 40 jewelry boxes. That, however, is after they pay a start-up fee ($34 on average) and a refundable materials deposit (around $30).
The money is hardly overwhelming, but the offer might be attractive to someone in search of some extra money. The problem is that most people never get any money back for their investment or their work. According to the BBB, workers send in the finished goods only to be told they don't meet certain standards. No refund is given for the materials fee, and no money is paid for the work.
The assembly operation is typical of many unrewarding work-from-home operations. Interested workers are required to pay a fee, sometimes just to find out what sort of work they'll be doing. Often, there are additional fees for things like training materials, marketing information or billing instructions.
Assembly operations have been around for years, but not nearly as long as the envelope-stuffing operation, which dates to the Great Depression and, like a virus, has mutated.
The typical scenario finds would-be workers paying a fee for information on how to get a job stuffing envelopes at home. What they find out is that these jobs don't exist. However, for an additional fee, the scammer will share "secrets" on how to make the fee money back.
And how is that? By placing the same kind of ad that originally lured the hopeful workers. If they choose to perpetuate the system, they can count on spending hundreds more for advertising, postage, printing and envelopes.
Another popular scam involves medical billing. Advertisements claim there is a crisis in healthcare because of an unmanageable backlog in claims that need to be processed. For an investment of up to $8,000, the company promises to provide software, training and connections to physicians and dentists who want to outsource their billing.
The reality is the software is often outdated or unusable, the training is minimal (without an additional investment) and the guaranteed pool of clients is nonexistent.
The problem of work-from-home schemes has become widespread enough for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service to warn: "The Inspection Service knows of no work-at-home promotion that ever produces income as alleged."
