Top Work From Home Scams of 2010

2010 is pretty much a wrap. Like every year it was filled with nasty work at home scams. Although this year they seemed to flourish more than usual because the con artists were taking full advantage of the down turn in the economy, unemployment rates and folk's desperation.

That being said work from home scams tend to repeat themselves. They may change their names, websites and appearances but they're easy to spot if you've seen a few and do your research.

Please keep in mind the following list is based on the scams we saw reported to us here on this blog and our own observations. It's extremely important that you really go through these scams because if you don't you may run into them in 2011. It would be unfortunate if you fell victim because you didn't want to do a bit of reading designed to save you.

With that said, here are some of the top work from home scams of 2010.

1. Package Forwarding

This scam has been doing very well for the last couple of years. Why? Because it's so well disguised as a regular job listing. Furthermore it doesn't require any out of pocket expense which everyone has been trained to think is the only sign of a scam. Tsk, tsk. What further makes this scam even more effective is that it has all the hallmarks of a real job offer in terms of requiring an interview, experience, etc. But again even with all this, it should be easy to spot once the so called employers advises you that part of the job requires receiving some equipment, packages, electronics, etc. that you will need to forward to them.

Either way this all ends the same as well. You may get a visit from some feds or police officers for shipping stolen merchandise. The scam artist gets some free gadgets and you end up getting screwed. (Sometimes they are even nice enough to send you money for doing this. But either way you'll be getting in trouble with the feds for handling stolen merchandise.) You can read about this scam in greater detail by clicking here. At the end of the day this is a nasty one that you need to know because it's recycled so much in different ways. Chances are you'll see it again in 2011 and many years to come because it's so successful.

2. Cashing Fake Checks, Money Orders, Wiring money

Like the package forwarding scam this scam also uses convincing job descriptions and requires no upfront money from you. (You see how the advice that only scams requires money is flawed?) In any event, the con artist send you a check or money order that you can cash on behalf of some international client or whatever reason they've made up to justify why they can't cash their own checks or money order. Then you just keep a portion of the cashed check or money order for the trouble. How nice of them! Not! Either way you end up losing money in your bank account and possibly banned from your bank for passing off a fake check or money order.

You can read about this scam in great detail by clicking here.

I actually experienced a variation of this scam earlier this month when I was trying to sell some items from the new house we're moving into on craigslist. I received emails immediately after posting my ads. People made up some excuses as to why they couldn't come by and see the items right away. But they would be happy to send me a money order or check for the full amount I was asking and actually a bit more as a sign of good faith on their end. I just needed to take the ad down as soon as possible. Then they would stop by in a day or two after that to pick up the items for sale. By the time I would deposit the checks and realize that I was scammed they would have had the merchandise and be long gone. Fortunately for me I know about these fake checks and money orders and would email them saying go and scam someone else you idiots.

3. Ebay Listing Agent (Auction Listing Agent)

This scam claims you'll be paid for posting links or ads on bay. It makes ridiculous claims about how much money you can make doing this. There are tons of variations of this nonsense but it all ends up the same. You get screwed over. Read about it by clicking here.

So that's the top 3 work from home scams of 2010. The reason I'm recounting these scams is because they are going to pop up again in some fashion in 2011 as some of the ones from 2009 came this year. The con artist may vary it but it's all the same nonsense if you're able to read through the lines. Think about my craigslist experience listed above. Even though they disguised the scam differently than a job offer, I already knew the signs of this particular scam because they mentioned cashing a check rather than paying via cash as I requested in my ad.

That's why it's important to be aware of the scams above and our scam page. If you read them carefully including the comments and other reports of scams listed by users like you, it's easy to spot the patterns. The con artist can tell you that God himself has sent them to provide you x job. But if you're in the know like me, you'll be able to pick apart their job offer in a matter of seconds because you'll know about the signs of a common scam. Unfortunately some people aren't fortunate enough to find a site like this that has done all the hard work for you. Then there are some people who have this information at their disposal but are lazy. So they end up failing to read this information. They just want to jump into finding a job. But you can't learn to find a job if you don't know what to avoid. They go hand in hand.

So if you want to be successful in 2011, educate yourself about scams. Furthermore always do your research which is a simple matter of following our scam video. You don't need to depend on me. You have the same brain I do. I basically just follow the steps in that video and I've also read all the scams listed on this site so I know the patterns. You're just as capable of doing this and I highly encourage you to do so!

That being said, we'll continue to do our part by providing you pre-screened work from home job leads here and articles about scams. But ultimately for you to succeed in 2011 you need to take ownership of your destiny. We provide you with the tools to succeed but if you fail to use them then you'll get more of what you got in 2010. If it was a lot of good then continue to follow those patterns. If it wasn't then 2011 should be the year you try something different and a lot of it.

Make this coming year your best year yet! Educate yourself about scams, do your research and take action on legitimate options presented to you. Here's to a New Year filled with health, blessings, peace and prosperity! You deserve all of this in 2011! But you have to go out there and make it happen because no one else can but you!