Home Business Credit Card Scams: Beware

The number of home business opportunities (aka scams) that were bombarded with today is astoundingespecially given the state of our economy. Unfortunately, I became a victim to one myself since I lost my job several months ago and was feeling the pressure of not having a regular paycheck. Ive since decided to investigate the legitimacy of these jobs as theyre listed on so many job listings.

Many of the work-at-home jobs include data entry or accepting diet orders. The biggest draw of all (and what makes them seem legitimate) is a guarantee. If it doesnt work, your money will be refunded. The testimonies appear promising so what could go wrong? Thats what I thought!

I spent days researching several ones. I focused one those that did not sell just the software to show you how to make money at home. But actually stated that I was working for them and all I had to do was go to their website and pull data to enter into forms. Sounded easy enough.

Again, there was the guarantee. If I wasnt happy, Id get all of my money back and besides, I was also getting a special deal since I was one of the first 100 people to respond. What I got versus what was promised was completely different. I had no longer entered my personal information, including my credit card data, when I realized Id become a statistic: Id been scammed.

They informed me that my website was ready to promote. They had a website for me to promote credit cards. All I had to was enter it into hundreds of search engines. I would have to promote the credit card website through FaceBook and other forums online. This is not mentioned anywhere on their initial site. I was also required to apply for four credit cards and when approved I would receive $20 back for each one. This never happened since they later said I could only receive it after I made $500.

I couldnt get paid until Id provided leads. There was always another reason why I couldnt yet get paid and no way to really get answers since they didnt provide a telephone number or online helpjust an email address that was usually ignored (or it replied with generic, automated messages that werent applicable).

I repeatedly requested a refund to no avail and finally tried to call the number that was on my credit card bill. It was based in Australia and the voicemail requested to leave a message and someone would get back to me. This never happened as well. I ended up filing a fraud complaint with my credit card company and currently await a credit to my account.

Im a college graduate. Im embarrassed to have fallen for this scam. I know being desperate for a paycheck is stressful though and I was in a place where I was susceptible to the lure of easy money. I am ready and willing to work hard, I just couldnt do that through opportunities like this that are based on deception. I really want others to realize that a job probably isnt legitimate if the promises are too good to be true; research carefully before you take a chance on a work-at-home business.