Experts warn job seekers about work from home scams
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Working from home sounds very appealing, right? But experts say you want to be careful when responding to those employment opportunities online.
Do a search online for “work from home jobs” and you will find thousands of listings. Some jobs may be the real deal. Others – not so much.
“We had one here recently where someone said they offered him a job from $80,000 to $100,000 a year,” said Tim Maniscalo, Better Business Bureau President and CEO. “What a great deal – stay at home, make $100,000 a year. Everybody would want that gig.”
Tim Maniscalo is with the Better Business Bureau serving central Indiana. The nonprofit organization tracks scams, including ones that offer work from home opportunities.
“People, they think ‘Hey, what a great gig, get to stay at home and don’t have to go to work every day, don’t have to commute, can kind of set my own hours,’” said Maniscalo. “So it’s very attractive to people. A lot of people want that.”
The BBB receives a couple of reports each month on work from home scams. Maniscalo said they launched the scam tracker just last year. It’s a free tool available on their website where you can file a report or check on scams in your area.
One report shows someone said they lost $26,000 to an employment investment scam.
“We advise people to check them out very very closely,” said Maniscalo. “Make certain they don’t give any money up front because we found very few of those that are legitimated.”
In another report, the victim said he was offered a job to be a project supervisor. He would work for an overseas company. They had plans to open a new office in the Keystone area. He was assigned his first project to buy laptops for the company.
“What they will say is do you need some supplies so we’ll send you a check looks like a legitimated check. You go you deposit that and then they will ask you to buy some supplies, then with the extra money send some of that extra money back to us or send those supplies to us,” said Maniscalo.
But the reports stated he knew something wasn’t right and returned the laptops before losing $7,000.
“You want to make sure that you’re finding reputable companies that you’re focusing on. It’s great to be able to work from home that flexibility is amazing,” said Betsy Revell, EmployIndy. “You want to protect yourself to make sure it’s the right one.”
Revell is the recruiting manager for EmployIndy. The agency provides workforce services for people living. Revell said there are a couple of things you want to keep in mind when applying for a work from home job.
“If it’s offering you a significant increase in that wage that wouldn’t typically be associated with it. It’s probably not the right thing. Some other things to look at making sure that the description makes sense making sure it doesn’t look like it’s been translated from another language,” said Revell. “If the email address has a company name attached to it, not just a general yahoo or gmail type of email address.”
Revell said many legitimate jobs are available you just have to know where to look.
“I’ve definitely seen an increase in all sorts of opportunity which is a benefit to Marion County,” said Revell. “It shows that we’re strong and we’re continuing to move forward.”
24-Hour News 8 learned 12 people filed a complaint last year with the Attorney General for employment scams. Of that number, four people lost more than $11,000 combined.
Click here to report a scam to the Better Business Bureau through the scam tracker.