Scammers are always looking for ways to make their money-stealing schemes look legit in order to dupe you. For awhile now, many have been using website that look like media outlets to promote their scams. These sites look like they belong to a newspaper or t.v. news station on which they are “reporting” a work-at-home story. They even include videos and other items that make the information seem real.

But don’t be fooled. There are a couple of ways to evaluate these sites.

1) Many actually have the work “Advertisement” at the top (as this example does). Some also have disclaimerss at the bottom. These types of sites are hoping you’ll not see these things. However, if these aren’t present, don’t assume its a legitimate page because many scammers won’t let you know.

2) Report is vague about how people are making money at home. All legitimate news reports on working at home focus on something like home business, direct sales, telecommuting, etc. If they are profiling a specific person, they will reveal what that person is doing to work at home (i.e. what company they work for or business they started).

3) Report doesn’t cover scams. I’ve been on and in several news media outlets and nearly all of them are skewed towards skepticism when it comes to working at home. They spend a lot of time talking about scams and providing information about avoiding scams.

4) All (or nearly all) the links go to the same website. Legitimate news sites have links that go to all sorts of resources, weather, travel, etc. In the example above, the “politics”, “sports’ and other links all go to a 404 page not found. All other links go to a single work-at-home opportunity.

5) The one program it presents doesn’t pass the scam test. If you find the repot compelling and decide to check out the offer, put it through the test. Often you’ll find it won’t pan out.  Things like Auction Listing Agent, Web Marketing Specialist, Rebate Processor are all going to be scams or deceptive schemes (pretending to be a ‘job’ when its not).

To avoid being scammed, take time to learn about working at home as well as learning how to evaluate work-at-home options. Work-At-Home Success offers many tips and ideas, and you can check out the Scams page to learn how to research opportunities to avoid scams.