There are literally thousands of promises being made for online employment and sometimes the presentation and promises of employment are simply too good to pass up. However, for the most part the offers that offer obscene amounts of cash are likely the ones you should run from the fastest.
Not every job offer online is only after your money. There are some legitimate opportunities out there, but central for your future financial well-being is knowing what is real and what is really bad news. Whenever you read through a proposal, there are certainly some red flags, even in the legitimate offers, but in most others, bells and whistles will also be sounding off while the red flags fly.
The first red flag you will see is how you received the information in the first place. Email are the easiest target and the offer will claims something like the person offering the job has finally cracked the code for making money online and they are now willing to share it with you. Bull. If that were the case, they would be taking care of their friends and family first. The reality is they have probably used up all their friends on previous schemes and their family no longer invites them for holiday dinner.
If you run across one of the promises while searching for job opportunities, the length and style of the offer is another red flag. Typically, it’s a rambling piece complete with testimonials from people talking about how they were near bankruptcy unless this opportunity pulled them out of the gutter and put them in a fabulous new home. They will also include pictures of the person in a mansion, beside a fancy car and possibly pictures of a beach house.
Don’t let this sway your thinking. It costs little to rent a nice car and drive around a fancy neighborhood. When they find a mansion, where it appears no one is home, they will jump out and have their picture taken in front of the house.
The biggest red flag? You an spend anywhere from five to 30 minutes reading the sales pitch without even finding out what your job responsibilities will be. Usually, you will be selling something, but you’re going to have to finally click on one or two more links to find out.
When considering any offers, remember that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. An old saying for sure, but these people are very prolific in their writing and can make even the lousiest idea sound like a good deal.
There some things to look for that can help determine the legitimacy of an offer. First, it’s the company’s information. Look for a physical address and not a post office box. Since you’re looking for an online job, you likely have a computer so go to Google Earth and enter the address given in the promotion. It might actually pop up or it could be a dry streambed in the middle of nowhere.
Look contact information for the company, preferably a phone number…then call the number. See if it’s answered professionally or if there are babies crying in the background or the sounds of other activities not related to a professional business. You might want to call three or four days in a row to see if the same person is answering. OK. This may be a little off, but if nothing else you can get a little revenge for all that time you spent reading the information piece.
If the only contact is an email address, close the box and move on. Remember, it takes about 10 minutes and less than $50 to set up a website and establish an email address. It also costs nothing and takes a minute or two to close a website down, never to be seen or heard from again.
