Internet frauds
and scams, in many cases, are not really novel
and ingenuous ways of defrauding people. Mostly
it is the same kinds of fraudulent schemes that
have defrauded consumers and investors for many
years before the inception of Internet.
These age old schemes, after adapting its colour
and look necessary for this new medium, are now
appearing online. With the explosive growth of
Internet and e-commerce in particular, online
criminals try to present their fraudulent schemes
in ways that look like any legitimate offer for
goods and services that vast majority of genuine
e-commerce merchants offer. In the process, they
not only loot consumers and investors but also
undermine consumer confidence in legitimate e-commerce
and the Internet.
In next few issues, we shall discuss some of
the 34 types of Internet frauds and scams we have
identified so far.
Work At Home Scheme
This scheme (like many other Internet scams)
offers easy way of earning money by doing very
little.
Typically aimed at housewives, unemployed, handicapped
persons, the elderly, and low income earners -
these fraudulent schemes promise a high-income
position requiring little experience and no investment.
The catch in most of these schemes is that - you
must purchase something before you begin work.
The upfront money to be paid in advance may range
from USD 35 to few thousands !
Big disappointments await those who are gullible
enough to have paid for the schemes. Some work-at-home
schemes promote ideas for setting up home businesses,
such as selling specialty products for which little
or no market exists. Participants are not informed
at the outset that they will be required to sell
these items themselves without any outside help.
Sometimes these schemes require you to produce
the items yourself with the promoter's promise
to buy back the items providing the workmanship
meets their 'high standards.' These promoters
invariably reject the finished products and return
them to you to sell on your own.
Other variants of the scheme are stuffing envelope,
responding to e-mails and even surfing Internet
!
Are all 'Work-At-Home' Schemes Fraudulent ?
A Big No ! There are certainly many good and
legitimate schemes to work from home.
As I said before - the Internet fraudsters try
their best to imitate genuine e-businesses. Just
as market for fake diamonds can not exist unless
there are real diamond sellers in market - there
are many legitimate earning opportunities in the
Internet besides the fakes.
For example, companies are outsourcing jobs like
data entry, medical transcription, editing etc.,
which can be done from home.
However, none of these legitimate schemes offer
easy money or promises thousands of dollars for
doing very little. On the contrary, many of these
outsourced-works require special skill.
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