“Work From Home Jobs” is one of the most searched phrases on Google. People prefer working from the comfort of their own homes. Internet is big and full of work from home opportunities.
The current scam ratio is ’61 for 1′ which means you have to find that 1 legitimate site from 61.
Finding a job online is not difficult, but the most important factor is how confident you are in getting paid. There are too many websites that offer online work, but the majority seem to be fraudulent or unreliable. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to instruct you on how to conduct adequate research before attempting any online work.
How to Find if A Work From Home Job is Fake or Real?
1. Bad vs Good Search Terms
When you use an online search engine, different phrases will get you dramatically different results.
On Google, for example, the search phrase “work from home” produces over 3,38,00,00,000 hits, while the phrase “this is a telecommuting position” turns up only 5,41,000. This is due to the fact that scammers frequently use the phrase “work from home” as a hook. When searching for information on Google, try to be as specific as you can. If necessary, use the advanced search options.
Here are a few examples of both “good” and “bad” search terms.
Bad search terms:
“work at home”
“work from home”
“work at home jobs”
“free online jobs”
“part-time jobs”
“home business opportunity”
Good search terms:
“must have a home office”
“This is a freelance position”
“This is a telecommuting position”
“will have the option to work from home”
2. Clear Signs of Work-at-Home Scams
Here are some clear signs of work-at-home scams-
-The offer is too good to be true
-The Next 3 People to Click… OR Free Today Only!
-You didn’t contact them, they contacted you
-The pay is too high for very little work, the nature of the work, or the time commitment.
-You’re required to pay for more information
-The ad says “no experience necessary.”
-Vague Job Requirements and Job Description
-The company’s website is hosted by a free hosting website
-Unprofessional Emails (spelling mistakes in emails)
-Asking for a registration fee or training kit to start work
3. Online Reviews
Forums are the best places to check the opinions of others about your finding. You can ask your questions and get an insight into what other people have to say about the opportunity you found. People who are already working might be able to tell you more about these jobs.
Review websites like Trustpilot can be a great place to find out if you can trust a work-from-home opportunity. Some scammers even buy sponsored reviews to mislead people. If a company has no negative reviews and everyone is only saying positive things, it should ring the bell.
4. Distinguishing Between a Legit Company and Fraud
As I said earlier you have to differentiate between a legitimate site offering a home job and a fraud. Look for the following pieces of information-
– Check out the company’s website and look for the contact page. The company must have an address with a phone number to be genuine.
– Genuine websites also have some other important pages- disclaimer, terms of use, privacy policy, terms, and conditions, etc
– Genuine work-at-home jobs don’t require you to pay the registration fee (usually)
– Reviews are the best help. Search what other people say about the company. If there are too many negative reviews, the company might be fake.
5. Research Using Google Advanced Search
You can use Google’s advanced search to research more about home jobs. Suppose you have to check out if incomopedia.com is genuine or fake, then start searching with negative keywords such as-
“incomopedia.com is fake”
“incomopedia is fraud” etc.
this will lead to generating search results having negative comments from people about the website. If there are too many negative comments then it’s a matter of concern.
Similarly, you can use Google advanced search shortcuts-
operator jobs -NewYork – Google will find the pages that have the word operator jobs but NOT the word newyork
“operator jobs in London” – find a page that has the exact phrase operator jobs in London
How to Get Most Out of Google Search?
For research work, you will need to read a lot of reviews online. Use reliable resources of information. Use your mind and common sense to differentiate between real and fake.
6. Network like Crazy, Be Proactive, Go Out of Your Home And Enquire
Many job seekers today are not networking enough. Get out of the house and network like crazy. Create nice profiles on professional networks like Linkedin and Monster. Contact former employers, and colleagues who are familiar with your expertise and quality of work and make new friends on social media. Many of the people you meet can provide introductions to key employees at a target company. Doing this is much better than hoping that your resume will catch the employer’s eye on its own.
These were some tips to assist you in figuring out if a work-from-home job is real or fake.
Thank you so much for sharing the tips. This is really helpful.
Hi Sudhir,
I came across 3 to 4 online typing jobs which asked me to pay to get the work and the conditions were really hard. Recently, I came across this online survey job.
Is this safe?? If I’m spending my own time, it has to be useful. Can you suggest me on how to gain access to genuine survey websites to earn money for the work i do.
Thanks,
Pringle
There are a lot of genuine survey sites. 30 Genuine survey sites
Thank you so much for sharing the tips. This is really helpful.