I’m going to scambust something today, but I need your help.
While I can give you some pointers, this contrick has so many different guises and pseudonyms, you may have a different version.
You may have even got a few stages down the line and be in email or phone contact with one of these scoundrels.
If so, you’re going to have to do a Starsky and Hutch-style manoeuvre… reverse outta there now!
Gather up your cash, slide across the bonnet, hit the pedals and screech down the road away from these opportunities… and don’t look back.
You may see a scamster in a cowboy hat running after you, proclaiming his innocence.
Ignore him. His days are numbered.
Sheriff Wright is creeping behind him with a gigantic mallet.
That said, the way YOU can help me out here is to look closely at your recent emails. Figure out if what you’ve received is a version of this classic dodgy offer…
Why you have to delete or bin these invitations
If you’ve had an email recently that says “Earn extra income”, or “textile Company Seeking New Workers” or “PART TIME JOB OFFER FROM FERGUSON TEXTILES WALES”…. then watch out.
They’re bad news.
The companies have names like “Noble Textiles”, “Arville Textiles”… and the authors of the letter come under different names like “Gary Robinson” or “Tina Howard”.
Whatever the names, the offer goes along the lines of:
“We are looking for reliable individuals as representative in the UK. I would like to know if you will like to work online from home and get paid based on a percentage without leaving or it affecting your present job if you have any.”
And here’s how they claim you will profit…
“You will be collecting payments, cash them at your bank, then be forwarding them via a medium that would be given later. And for this service, We agree to pay you 10% each of each amount you collect from our clients.”
And yes, they’re always written in terrible English, as I’ve illustrated above. (These are direct quotes from emails I’ve received myself).
While I may mock them, they shouldn’t be underestimated. There’s a reason why these types of email are so similar and common…
That specific format has been PROVEN to work
The criminals keep sending these pesky things, because people keep responding, time and time again.
Why fix what ain’t broke?
Now I don’t blame anyone for considering these opportunities. Not at all. If you’ve never seen one before, it’s very easy to get lured in. When I first saw one I thought it may even be genuine.
Now that I’m a grizzled old sceptic, who checks out biz opps for a living, I know the score.
They now go straight into my delete pile.
The Golden Rule
These work from home ‘job’s come in many different guises. The names, details and products change, but the format remains roughly the same.
In any case, remember the golden rule – a stranger will ever email you out of the blue and offer you a job. And even if they did, they would ask you for an interview. They’d never ask for payment.
There’s a big different between a business plan which you buy and apply yourself… and a job where you are employed and earn a wage. The latter are very rarely – if ever – offered by strangers who email you or call you for no reason.
4 more tips to protect your cash
If you get any kind of “work at home” job offer, follow these guidelines:
*** Check there’s a landline phone number, not a mobile. Get an address, a proper street address, not a P.O. Box address.
*** Never send money without asking the company for specific details of what they’re offering. If it’s along the lines of what I’ve described above, then forget about it. If it’s a genuine way to work and make money for the time you put in (NOT commission for moving money around) then maybe consider it.
*** Avoid stuffing envelopes. You pay a registration fee in return for advice on how lure other people into the same fake opportunity.
*** Avoid home working directories. They promise you a variety of home work opportunities for a fee of up to £25. But you only get a directory of other companies who have their own registration fees.
Or try something that really works
Better still, go for decent armchair business ideas that have already been investigated and checked out.
Go and browse the review section of the website and try something out.
In each case you’ll know exactly what you’re getting into, and know you’re protected by a money back guarantee.