Most people realize that a lot of fraud goes on in the World of home-based business opportunities where business opportunity sellers purport that you can make all kinds of money in some bogus business scheme. In fact the United States Justice Department’s Federal Trade Commission’s consumer protection division enforces home-based business opportunities to make sure that people are not being scammed.

In fact many state and federal agencies have videos and brochures to help consumers and warm them what to look out for, but unfortunately very few people ever order the free videos or brochures. Home-based business fraud scam artists know this and they just keep selling their wares.

Some say home-based business fraud is running rampant, while others realize that there are a few bad apples in the group and that perhaps most business opportunities for home-based businesses are O. K. and a few are really good. Nevertheless, the government is going after the fraudsters.

Many people do not trust the government either and this is in another growing problem. If consumers do not believe the government or the FTC, which promised it would get rid of SPAM and work on identity theft, but unfortunately over promoted its actual abilities then perhaps the government is also misrepresenting themselves and therefore who can you believe? Consider this in 2006.

Profitmasters.com is one of the most notable companies that offers a reliable solutions for all the people interested in working at home. This company is the facilitator of numerous projects that create great profits for both buyers and providers. In fact the whole domain of work at home is a reliable one that offers numerous opportunities for all the people who want to work from the comfort of their home offices.

So the relations between buyers and providers are notable to consider when we speak of the necessity and of the usefulness of this method. Professional, both buyers and providers are put in relation with each other and must follow the rules established by the facilitator of work at home projects, in this case the Profitmasters.com company.

This company specializes in offering quality solutions for work at home opportunities and for this reason there are many people who start their work at home activities under the system established by Profitmasters.com. The reliability of this method is taken into account every time there is a provider who wants to sign up in the systems offered by Profitmasters.

Moreover, the internet market contains numerous companies such as the one offered by this specialised firm so as to make it easier for providers to choose the jobs that would suit their skills and experience.

Usually people who appeal to work at home companies are sure about the advantages offered by this domain in general and by the companies in particular. It is very important for these companies to build their trustworthy brand for their clients to trust and for this reason we may note the reliability admitted by Profitmasters.com. This company is specialized in offering high quality services for both buyers and providers.

The reliability and the trustworthiness of this business opportunity is an important aspect to notice as it constitutes the actual reason for which people choose Profitmasters for their work at home requirements.

The domain of work at home opportunities and options is a very important one to note as its reliability is given by the actual positive features that create it. These features are the key points that both buyers and providers take into account when choosing a specific company to request and offer services.

The professionalism of Profitmasters.com is to be taken into account as it creates the popularity and the notability of this company in the work at home market.

There are many internet business scams all over the ‘World Wide Web’. I am going to offer some information on how you can avoid getting scammed while searching for an home based business online.

1. Don’t ever pay for an opportunity to work.

This is the first thing you should keep in mind. Your home based business should be treated like your corporate job, just like working for an employer at your company.

If it is required you to pay a fee for a job interview in the ‘real world’, what would you think and how would you react if your interviewer ask you to pay a sum of $50 or $100 to land the job? Just to make sure you were really serious in the business?

People would think it was absurd to pay a fee for a job interview or starting up a home based business. A legitimate company or business never asks people for a fee.

Whenever you are asked to pay a sum of money for an opportunity at a business, job, or information regard home based business, then it is definitely a scam.

Work from home business, on the other hand, may require start-up costs for initial investment, study materials, business franchises, or other relative items. I am going to state in the next step. Stay aware before you pay for anything.

2. Investigate the business before you invest for anything.

Have you ever heard of any business that’s soliciting people money?

If not, look out of them carefully. Ensure their companies have a physical mailing address and a phone number. Call to check out if they did exist by asking them some related questions. Search on search engine to see if you can discover any positive or negative comments. Check whois.com for reference carefully.

There are some warning signs of scammer companies that should consider:

- Their website hosting service should not be free. Their domain name should look like this ‘www.companyname.com’

- Most companies don’t use email service provider such as ‘gmail, yahoo, or hotmail’. Their contact email address should look like this ‘name@name.com’

- Their mailing address should be Post Office Boxes for and don’t disclose their real addresses.

They ought to have a phone number on their business website where you can contact them.

3. Purchase with your credit card.

This may sound counter-intuitive, but if you are going to invest a sum for a starter-kit or product and service relating to a home based business, buy them by using your credit card.

If you don’t receive any things, or if something goes wrong, you can file a dispute with your credit card company for the charge. If you are not sure how you can file a dispute charge, check with your credit card company before you start to invest for anything.

4. Do market search for the proposal of business.

Many business scams will guarantee for wealth and easy work. With a little research on the internet, you can know whether you can make money for doing this kind of business.

If you are going to start whatever business practice, check a discussion forum on the internet. Post and ask a question in the forum for some opinions, communicate with other people who have been gone through the experience that you are going into. You may be surprised to discover there will be various positive and negative answers. So this information should be sufficient for you to make your decision.

Be sure to do some research works on the internet before even thinking of starting up a home based business. There are illegal businesses and scams scattered all over the ‘World Wide Web’. Try to stay away from them.

How do you detect and avoid home based business scams? What are the programs that are only out to take your money?

Though it’s a cliche, I think the adage “if it sounds too good to be true, it is.” Home based business scams prey on your desire to make big money with little or no work on your part.

Business is all about exchanging a good or service for money. That means that there has to be a market for the good or service and that people have to be willing to pay your rate for the exchange.

One of my least favorite home based business scams is the “stuffing envelopes” scheme. The way this typically works is that you see a classified (either offline or on a site like Craigslist) that advertises that you can make $2 per envelope that you stuff. You’re then asked to send $2 and a self addressed stamped envelope for more information.

The people who send the $2 are mailed instructions (the stuffed envelope) on how to duplicate the scam.

You can avoid home based business scams like this one by thinking about the transaction costs of the activity.

If a legitimate business like an insurance company needed 100 envelopes stuffed, they would probably assign one of their secretaries to do it. If they pay her $15 an hour and she completes the assignment in 30 minutes, it’s cost them $7.50 to stuff the envelopes. Why would they pay you $200 to do the same task?

Further, if they had 10,000 envelopes to stuff, they would have a printing house do it with machines for a fraction of the $7.50.

So when you’re evaluating whether an opportunity is a home based business scam, look at the costs involved. Do real people or businesses need this product or service at the price you can sell it for? If not, chances are good that it’s a pyramid scheme or scam of some kind.

When I decided to leave my career after twelve years to stay at home with my daughters, I thought it would be fantastic to find a work at home career that would allow me to make a little extra income, as well as stay at home with my children. For three years I searched and searched the internet to no avail. All I found was scams and “get rich” quick schemes. All of which seemed to good to be true.

Unfortunately, I was not as “wise” as I am now about these scams, and I regret to say that I fell for many of them at the expense of our pocketbook. This was a hard lesson to learn, and so I decided to write about my mistakes, hoping for others to learn and be wary of these things, so they do not fall into the same predicament as I.

When looking online for a work at home career or a home-based business, please keep the following information handy at all times;

1. If it Sounds Too Good
This might seem obvious, but it is amazing how many really good scam artists are able to enlist intelligent people into schemes that sound too good to pass-up! Be very wary of businesses that offer a lot of income in a short period of time with very little work involved.

2. Be Wary of Companies Wanting Money
Of course, some legitimate companies want a fee from you to receive their start-up package, but personally I am very leery of any company who wants you to pay them money.

3. Beware of MLM and Pyramid Companies
Companies that want you to purchase inventory up front, would be considered MLM in my opinion. If you have to house and store inventory in your home, more than likely it is not good. If you have to purchase so much product per month to maintain your status with this company, it is also not good. Some people fall for this and succeed, but my experience has not proven to be this way. I found that most other mothers and parents do not want to purchase these products from you, nor do they want to host parties so you can.

If you come across a work at home or home based scam, you can take the following actions;

1. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

From the SEC, a good checklist to help you avoid fraud, especially online fraud.

2. Pyramid Schemes

From the Pyramid Scheme Alert site, a very detailed explanation about the harm pyramid schemes inflict on people.

3. About Internet Fraud Watch

Good information from Internet Fraud Watch, specializing in telemarketing scams.

4. United States Postal Inspection Service

From the U.S. Postal Site, some recent work-at-home schemes are discussed, as well as other employment schemes.

5. BBB online reliability program

Go to the Better Business Bureau online to see if the company in question is listed.

Overall, the best advice that I can give you is to start your own business through your own personal website, sell on Ebay, or find a reputable company in your area, contact them, and see if you can submit a resume for them to review and possible allow you to do some data entry or secretarial work from home. It doesn’t hurt to just ask.

A great many people in this world would like to quit their jobs and work from home. Some just want to supplement an insufficient income. Whatever the motivation, the Internet offers almost unlimited possibilities. Unfortunately, a great many of the opportunities which promise fast money and easy success are nothing more than scams. Here are a few of the most common and some of the worst.

Paid Surveys

This is one of the fastest growing scams on the Internet. You will find a site that claims big corporations want to pay you just to answer questions about their products. And the best thing, they pay you for your opinion. Please, think about that. Large companies have big marketing departments and reputable advertising agencies working for them. If they need a survey taken, they have professionals to do this.

Part of the enticement of this scheme is the promise that you may take part in focus groups and earn even more money. If large corporations need a focus group their marketing people will arrange for it. They are not going to select random people on the Internet. Focus groups need to be focused. The views sought may be age, sex or geographically specific. They are held in a controlled environments which ensures the data is credible.

The worst thing about these programs is that they tell you joining is FREE or a very nominal amount. You sign up, FREE and within minutes your email is jammed with offers to take a survey. . So you start the survey. And then you find out that to complete the survey, you have to buy the products of two or more of the advertisers. Of course, you only have to look at a FREE sample and pay just the shipping charges, usually less than $5. But, if you read the fine print, you will find out that you actually have signed up for a monthly supply of that product. The cost of the monthly supply will be very high, usually over $50. And remember you have to select at least two FREE samples.

There are dozens and dozens of sites claiming to teach you how to get paid to take on-line surveys and make from $5 to $75 each, or more. They will offer you the chance to get paid to participate in focus groups and make up to $150 an hour. They will tell you you can get paid to take phone surveys and you can earn as much as $120 an hour. Some will tell you that you can get paid to try new products (and keep the free products too). You can even get paid to preview new movie trailers for $4 to $25 an hour.

As far as I can find, absolutely none of them can deliver any kind of opportunity that would allow you to make any serious money at all. Stay away from all the Paid Survey sites with their extravagant and unrealistic promises.

On Line Data Entry Jobs

The really insidious thing about these sites is that if you search for “on-line scams”, 9 out of 10 times a splash page opens that is actually a portal to a site trying to sell you their program.

I opened one site recently that was advertised as “Sate Entry Job Site Scams Exposed.” You might reasonably expect to get an explanation about the Data Entry scams. You should expect that you would get information on how the scam works. But NO! This site, actually opened, not one, but 3 different splash pages (advertisements) encouraging you to join their opportunity. All three sites made vague claims as to what you would do and whom you would do it for.

According to one of the splash pages there are tens of thousands of companies out sourcing their Data Entry Positions. It sounds so easy and so legitimate. But most of these so-called companies are simply affiliate marketers who in turn will entice you to join their team, which has a wonderful “can’t miss” program for making money. By the time you are six levels in, you have bought so many programs, you can’t remember where you started, you’ve spent a lot more money then you expected and you still don’t have a job or a business.

All these programs promise training and support which is minimal or non-existent. Don’t believe the glorious testimonials. You’ll pay anywhere from $49 to $99 to join the opportunity. Perhaps you will pay this at several levels. The probability that you will succeed to even make your money back is less than 5%.

Envelope Stuffing Opportunities

I fell for this scheme years ago when I first got out of college. At that time they were advertised mostly in print media. Often found in the classified ad sections in the back of glossy magazines or tabloids, they appeared to be a quick and easy way to make a reasonable extra income. Now the scheme has moved onto the Internet and it still getting thousands and thousands of people to sign up. It seems an easier opportunity for people who are afraid to commit to an on-line business. The offer of $5 per envelope stuffed is not big, but most people think if you stuff enough, you can have a decent extra income.

How does it work? No, you don’t get hundreds of pre-paid envelopes from the company. No you don’t get hundreds of names on nicely addressed and stamped envelopes. What you get for the “fee” you paid to join this opportunity is a flimsy brochure. You also get a letter instructing you how to to place small classified ads in newspapers or magazines. More aggressive companies encourage you to place ads on-line. Then you have to buy the envelopes, at your cost.

The ad you place offers a person information if they will send a self addressed stamped envelope to you with $5. You get the response with the $5 and you put the flyer from the company into the envelope and mail it. See, you’re getting paid $5 for stuffing envelopes. But the truth is, how many people are going to send you $5 for information they could easily get elsewhere for free. Would you send someone $5 just to get information. I don’t think so.

The most unfortunate part is that these schemes continue to operate and offer bigger and bigger rewards. Just today I went on-line and searched for “Envelope Stuffing Jobs.” I immediately found three different “opportunities” that promised you could earn $12 an hour, $50 to $75 dollars an hour and even $1,576 a week stuffing envelopes at $5. In several cases the fee to join is now almost $50.

Processing Medical Claims

You’ve seen the ads on line. You’ve probably seen an infomercial on TV. It looks wonderful, doesn’t it? Such a legitimate occupation. According to the ads and infomercials you can earn from $800 to $1000 a week simply processing medical claims on your home computer for health care professionals. Often these enrollers will invite you to a trade show at a local hotel.

There you will be urged to buy software programs and even computers. You may purchase a software program which might cost you under $70 at a computer store for several thousands of dollars. One popular system only charges a set-up fee of $249 plus a small monthly subscription fee of $89. This allows you access to their applications and other services. These services include lists of doctor’s offices that might need your services. But just a few lines later you are advised that local yellow pages, the Internet and medical listings are your best source of business.

It’s possible that some small medical offices do not have a medical processing staff or service but that is very rare. A high estimate says that 20% of health care professionals do not have their own computerized systems. Think of your own doctor’s office. Ask them who processes their claims. You’ll find very few opportunities.

Even if you do get a few clients, you will have to invest in a good computer system, make sure that your work coordinates with the insurance companies who actually process the claims. The service you buy may offer you the option to submit claims electronically through a national clearing house. Of course, there is an additional charge for that but don’t worry, you can just charge your client more to make up for the extra cost.

You could start your own medical billing business at home without the “aid” of any of the on-line advertised programs. You would then have to market your product . This is definitely not an easy thing to do. You will have to approach your prospective clients face-to-face. Your financial investment to start up a real business like this is huge. You will have to invest substantial money in marketing and computer costs so you may not make that money back for a long time, if ever.

There is one legitimate way to make money processing medical claims at home. First get a job processing medical claims at a hospital, group practice or clinic. After you’ve worked for them for a reasonable time, usually 1 -2 years, you can then request that they set you up at home to process the claims. But what does this mean? It means that you are en employee and you are simply telecommuting. And that wasn’t really your goal, was it?

Don’t let yourself be a victim. Research the companies that are offering your big dream. Think about it and analyze the pros and cons. Don’t rush into anything and don’t give up your hard earned money unless you are sure the opportunity can deliver on its promises.

Are you wondering what is a home based business scam and what is a legit home based business? Here are five tips to get you off on the right foot with starting a small business from your home.

1. Does it sound too good to be true? As they say, if it does, it probably is. Now this doesn’t mean that making a good living is impossible. It just means that in your gut, you must feel that this is a real opportunity. If not, it’s probably not a legit home based business.

2. Can you see real people buying your good or service? If you can easily identify a target market that would part with their hard earned money for your product, it’s probably not a home based business scam. For instance, you can see real people paying $150 to $200 a week for in home daycare. You probably can’t see real people paying thousands of dollars for a vacation scheme - unless there was a downline attached. That’s probably a scam.

3. Would you buy the good or service? If you wouldn’t buy the product yourself, you’re going to have trouble selling it. For instance, if you want to make money selling your crafts, have you ever bought crafts? If not, you’re not going to have the confidence to sell them.

4. Is the expense worth the outlay? In other words, if you are paying up front for a franchise or a licensing fee, are you getting sufficient value for your money? Business advice runs the gamut from $30 ebooks to franchises that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Everyone wants a piece of your start up dollars. Are they delivering value?

5. Is there too much “hype” around the product? If they really have to “sell” you on buying into the business, step back and think twice about buying. At the very least put some time distance between you and the purchase.

Not every home business opportunity is a scam. Think of the moms running daycare businesses, the copywriters who work from home, and the computer repair technicians who work out of their vans. Legit home businesses are becoming more common. Just make sure you find something you know in your gut will work.