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Alert!

Work at Home Schemes Not What They Seem

Beware:

Work-at-home schemes lure potential employees by promising hundreds of dollars for a few hours of work. Often, it is those interested in part-time work or supplemental income who fall victim to such schemes.

These job advertisements can be found in the Classifieds under the headings Help Wanted or Business Opportunities. One common form of a work-at-home scheme recruits "envelope stuffers" in their ads. When the applicant responds to the ad they are asked to pay an up-front fee for start-up materials. To their surprise they receive instructions on how to place similar ads. If the recipient decides to follow through, they would have to spend a significant amount of money on ad placement, postage and printing which will likely never be fully recouped.

Be Wise:

Closely examine any work-at-home offer. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Realize if you participate in recruiting workers under the same guise you are potentially putting yourself at risk.

Get all promises in writing. It is always better to have documentation of any agreement in case a problem occurs later.

Exercise caution when money is requested up-front. Remember you are sending money for an unknown investment.

Never send cash in the mail, and be cautious of firms that require a money order. This could indicate that the firm is attempting to avoid a traceable record of the transaction.

For more information on telephone scams and/or fraudulent activity please contact the following organizations:

Better Business Bureau
In Winnipeg: (204) 989-9010
Toll-free: 1-800-385-3074
Winnipeg Police Department: (204) 986-6222
Industry Canada Competition Bureau: 1-800-348-5358
Consumers' Association of Canada (Manitoba)
In Winnipeg: (204) 452-2572
Toll-free: 1-888-596-0900

*CAC Manitoba compiles information about scams from various sources, agencies, and publications that are available in our InfoCentre. The issue of ScamWatch was written with the help of information from the Better Business Bureau website, www.bbb.org.