Be careful of scams, (but not all companies are out to scam you).

There is no 100-percent, sure-fire way to protect yourself against a scam, but you do have to learn how to recognize some of the Red Flags that will help you lower the risks of getting burned. Here are some Red Flags that you might want to pay attention to: 

If you have to pay money to get employment                       - Red Flag

This is obvious. If you are asked to pay a company to work for them-even for the cost of an application fee-check it out a little closer. I must say that some companies will charge a one time registration fee, but not a monthly fee, if you use tools such as company websites, then expect to pay a small hosting fee.

If you have to pay to promote or sell a product                  - Red Flag

Never join a company where you have to pay to sell their product i.e. pay monthly fees.

No serious company is going to sell you employment.

If they require you to build an upline/downline               - Red Flag

This means that you will have one or more contact persons above you and once you get enough people to join your team, you will have a downline. This is MLM marketing and most MLM companies require some type of payment to join.

If you have to hold monthly meetings                                   - Red Flag

This means that you will have to be a good recruiter, and build your list.

If you have to purchase the products yourself                  - Red Flag

Never join a company where you have to buy the product in order to

earn money. You don´t necessarily have to spend money to make money.

Companies with products that are associated with Clikbank.com for instance are free to join and promote.

If you have to pay for materials to get the job done      - Red Flag

Avoid paying the hiring company for materials you need for the job. You should get all advertising material free of charge.

Beware of calling 900 numbers                                                  - Red Flag

Never call a 900 number for information about a job position. This is obviously the same as paying for information.

In addition to these here are some extra things which you should find out about any company which you are considering working for, such as:

• Carefully reading the entire Ad before writing or calling the hiring person or company.
• Never send a self-addressed, stamped envelope for further information that you need.
• Be suspicious of companies that hire internationally, and find out how long a company has been in business before agreeing to work for it.
• Check out any company which you are considering working for with the Better Business Bureau- Down line, Up line, Power line, Quick, Easy, No work-Cash machine- Pyramid schemes- No experience necessary-Residual income-Turnkey-Multi-level, are among many of the terms which you should know and recognize not to get scammed by companies who don´t have your best interest at heart.

Some scams come in the form of phishing emails where they pretend to be a company such as eBay and will send you an email in the name of eBay, with a link to a site that looks exactly like ebay´s site, stating that you should answer a particular question from an eBay member from the members area.

They will then ask you to visit the members area so you can answer the question and fill out a form, it will look exactly like eBay. Beelieve me! What happens is, once you follow this link you are carried to a URL which is set up to accept your personal identifying information such as, account nr. password, email etc., and ask you to login to your account, once you do this,

they got you…OUCH!!! ONCE THEY GET THIS INFORMATION THEY WILL CLEAN YOU OUT…

So how do you protect yourself from such scam emails?

Never sign in to your eBay (Pay Pal etc.) account via a link in an email. The safest way to access your eBay account is to call up "www.ebay.com " into the address bar of your internet browser and then click "Sign in" or "My eBay".

You can also use another browser other than your default browser, Firefox, Explorer, Netscape , this way you minimize your chances of getting burned through these type of emails.

If you are a  eBay member always check My eBay. Most emails from eBay are sent via the eBay system and will be available in My Messages.  Also visit the eBay Safety Centre or the safety center where you have your memberships, as they contains lot’s of valuable information on using their system safely.
Remember:

eBay, your bank, Google, Yahoo, MSN or any serious company will never ask you for your personal identifying information in an email, if you receive such an email report it immediately to the company’s security team. This helps you, me and everybody who uses eBay, Pay Pal, Clickbank, and so many others sites. If you are in doubt about an email you receive, please forward it to your provider’s Safety Team.

There are many, many scams out there so beware, if you are not sure that the company you are considering working for will scam you or not, the best way to find out is to make a search in Google, type in the name of the company with the word “review” behind it and Google will tell you if it’s a scam or not. Or you can Google in the word “scam” and Google will spit out all the latest scams for you.

I hope that this information will be useful to you

wempee