Home working scams
Here's the scenario: you want a job, but don't have the qualifications or experience to get something that pays enough to cover childcare and all the other costs of going out to work. Suddenly, the promise of an income for work you can do from home and fit around other commitments sounds very appealing.
Here's the trap: you'll see adverts for various home working schemes in newspapers, magazines, shop windows, on lamp posts or even get them in your email. Although some are legitimate, a whole lot will take money from you, without any intention of providing an income in return.
How to recognise a scam
A real giveaway for bogus schemes is that, they ask for money up front. You should never part with money in advance. Genuine schemes will not ask for it. One of the most common scams that appears again and again is the envelope addressing and filling scheme. Thousands have paid a registration fee to join and ended up with nothing. At best, they get you to place adverts like the ones you answered and recruit other people into the scheme. You are promised a commission on new registration fees, so if you do earn anything it will be from conning others. Other envelope schemes take your money and give nothing in return, or refuse to pay, because they say your work is unsatisfactory.
Adverts for people to assemble craft kits at home are equally dodgy. They sell you the kits and promise money in return for making up the goods, but they have no intention of paying. Send the stuff back to them, and they say it is sub-standard so you've wasted both time and money.
Where's the protection?
It was repeatedly hearing stories such as these that prompted Labour MP for Birmingham Northfield, Richard Burden, to introduce a Private Members Bill to make such practices a criminal offence. He believes there are around 300 such scams operating in the UK at any one time.
Next page: what happened to the bill
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