Beware the lure of easy money. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Denise Cullen reports.
Working from home might be one of the fastest-growing areas of modern employment, but all legitimate boom industries unfailingly attract their share of charlatans.
Increasingly, the message from consumer watchdogs is to be wary of anyone who promises to reveal how you can earn big bucks without leaving the house.
Many of these so-called opportunities are sinister attempts to part you from your cash, rather than help you earn more, they warn.
Furthermore, these scams tend to prey on the most vulnerable groups of people: the unemployed or housebound individuals, such as carers or mothers with young children, who are trying to make much-needed extra money.
Consumer Affairs Victoria has received 752 complaints about scams since August 2002, says spokeswoman Janet Miller.
"Consistently, over time, the envelope-stuffing scam is the one that keeps raising its head," she says.
Unsolicited mail drops, posters stuck to telegraph poles, print-outs on community noticeboards and advertisements in the "self-employment opportunities" column in local newspapers are used to lure new victims.
The work described as "stuffing envelopes" (though lacing shoes and making baby booties are popular variants), usually turns out to be non-existent. Consumers are required to pay money up front, usually to a post office box address or an overseas address, the bona fides of which cannot be checked.
Once they have paid their money, however, they discover there are no envelopes to stuff.
Instead, what they receive are instructions on how to lure other people into the scheme through advertisements much like the ones they themselves responded to.
"Things like `working from home', `use your own computer', `family friendly work', `perfectly legal way of earning lots' - these are all phrases which appear regularly in the scam ads," Ms Miller says.
"Claims that you can make big money in a short time, or with little effort, usually apply to the promoters of the scams, not those participating. And typically they target high-unemployment suburbs or those with a low socioeconomic status."
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is also on the warpath against what it describes as "illegal scams".
Last year it promised a crackdown against pyramid selling, competitions and lotteries, investment seminars, wealth promotions, get-rich-quick schemes and envelope stuffing, and other work-from-home schemes.
"The promoters of illegal schemes are often based overseas and use a deceptive web of mail and distribution houses, or are fly-by-night operators (who use) temporary locations before absconding with the illegal proceeds," a spokeswoman for the commission says.
In the past, the commission has successfully taken action against traders, including Kevin Ryan, for participating in a notorious scheme called Skybiz 2000 Home Based Business, which breached pyramid-selling laws. According to the NSW Department of Fair Trading, Skybiz 2000 was promoted as a work-at-home business opportunity that could generate quick wealth.
Skybiz sold on-line tutorials that allegedly helped people get into the business of creating and selling websites. It was believed to operate in 200 countries and was estimated to have taken about $175 million from consumers.
Advice from the www.scamwatch.gov.au website point out that individuals sucked into home-based employment scams generally don't realise that few people make easy money working from home."
Ms Miller says anyone with concerns or complaints about work-from-home scams should contact Consumer Affairs Victoria on 1300 558 181.
Danger signs
You have just received details about a new work-from-home opportunity. But will it make you rich or leave you out-of-pocket? Here are a handful of indicators that should set your alarm bells ringing.
Read between the lines - often the language used can give the game away. In particular, beware of the evocative language often used in questionable internet ads. Various combinations of "free", "forever", "destiny", "ultimate", "insight", "exciting", "millionaire" and "risk- free" should have you thinking twice.
Watch out for more prosaic promises, along the lines of "be your own boss", "work only a few hours a week", "never set an alarm clock again" and "have no staff, no overheads, no bookwork". We might all yearn for a life like that, but real business opportunities -- eventhose where you don't have to get out of your pyjamas or leave the house -- just don't work that way.
Be cautious if the promoter says: "It's perfectly legal." If the promoters feel the need to say that about their scheme, NSW Fair Trading warns, it probably isn't legal.
The fly-by-nighters involved in scams usually give only a post office box or mobile phone number to contact -- they don't want you to call them at home or turn up at their street address. So be wary if you can't reach them through standard means.
There is always a demand for up-front payment, which can range from as little as $30 to as much as several hundred dollars, and always before your "work" begins.
When the prospective worker contacts the promoter, answers to reasonable questions (such as "What does the work involve?", "How much does it pay?" and "How is income achieved, exactly?") are vague at best, evasive at worst.
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
