I came across a website that looks like a blog/news report espousing a work-at-home scheme that “actually works.” The headline reads as such:
“Work at Home Mom Makes $8,795/Month Part-Time.”
Of course, without reading any further, I said to myself, “Oh, another one of these.” Like most work-at-home scams, this company, ostensibly named Home Income Profit System, are passing themselves off as “News 6 Alerts” and making a lot of claims about high income working part-time from home and asks consumers to pay $2.97 to “unlock” a link to their business opportunity. They also claim that they’ll pay via direct deposit—which would give them your bank information.
The site contains a lengthy disclosure at the bottom of the page explaining that, in a nutshell, everything you’ve just read is false. Here’s an excerpt from this disclosure:
This website, and any page on the website, is based loosely off a true story, but has been modified in multiple ways including, but not limited to: the story, the photos, and the comments.
[…]
Thus, this blog, and any page on this website, are not to be taken literally or as a non-fiction story.
This is a fancy way of saying, “We made this whole thing up.”
This blog, and the results mentioned on this blog, although achievable for some, are not to be construed as the results that you may achieve on the same routine.
I UNDERSTAND THIS WEBSITE IS ONLY ILLUSTRATIVE OF WHAT MIGHT BE ACHIEVABLE FROM USING THIS/THESE PRODUCTS, AND THAT THE STORY DEPICTED ABOVE IS NOT TO BE TAKEN LITERALLY.
This means, essentially, that the results claimed in the ad are not typical and that, despite the fact that these claims are intended to entice you to the point of giving us money, you probably shouldn’t expect to make that amount of money.
I UNDERSTAND THAT THIS CONSUMER TRANSACTION INVOLVES A NEGATIVE OPTION AND THAT I MAY BE LIABLE FOR PAYMENT OF FUTURE GOODS AND SERVICES, UNDER THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, IF I FAIL TO NOTIFY THE SUPPLIER NOT TO SUPPLY THE GOODS OR SERVICES DESCRIBED.
This means that, when you pay the $2.97 to “unlock the link,” you’re signing up for a negative-option billing plan that will charge your credit card on a rotating basis unless you contact the company to make them stop. Much of our experience with companies that engage in this practice tells us that this may be difficult to do; based on this, BBB recommends that you avoid investing in this business opportunity.
In BBB’s experience, any company claiming that you can make thousands of dollars working at home which then asks you to pay a fee, no matter how high or low the amount of money, is a scam.
If you come across a web page that vaguely looks like a news report telling you that you can make thousands of dollars at home part-time, no matter what they’re calling themselves, just walk away. You’re saving money, you’re not getting wrapped up in any scams, and you’re helping to dry up their pool of resources. Seriously. The only way that scams ever end is when people stop falling for them.