Work-at-home scheme
scams focused on businesses run from one's home
A work-at-home scheme is a deceptive or fraudulent job offer or business opportunity that promises income for work performed from home, often while requiring upfront payments, purchases, reshipping, or financial transfers. Such schemes are commonly presented as opportunities to earn easy money, become one's own boss, or work flexible hours with little experience or effort.
Work-at-home schemes overlap with several other kinds of fraud, including employment fraud, bogus business opportunities, reshipping scams, and money mule schemes.
Characteristics
Work-at-home schemes typically promise high earnings for simple home-based tasks, remote work with minimal qualifications, or a chance to run a home business with little risk. Anti-fraud agencies warn that such offers often rely on vague job descriptions, unsubstantiated earnings claims, requests for advance fees, or demands for personal and financial information.
In some cases, promoters falsely describe a business opportunity as a job. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission states that sellers covered by the Business Opportunity Rule may not claim to be offering employment when they are actually selling a business opportunity.
Common forms
Bogus business opportunities
A common type of work-at-home scheme sells a supposed home business rather than a job. Examples cited by regulators include envelope stuffing, craft assembly, vending-machine routes, medical-billing programs, and online-storefront programs marketed with deceptive earnings claims.
These schemes often require victims to pay for starter kits, training, leads, software, inventory, or processing fees before any income is earned.
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This entry incorporates text from “Work-at-home scheme” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.