My Friend Says Online Work Is All A Scam, Is This True?

We recently received a letter from Katy in Illinois and she asks:

“My friend took a job as an online virtual assistant, just as you recommend. It paid really well. $50 an hour! But then the guy ran away and never paid. Is all online work a scam? My friend says it is.”

Online Work And Scams Answer

Hi Katy,

Thanks for writing to us. This is Darren and I’m really sorry to hear about your friend. Here’s what you need to know, I think.

1.    No, not all online work is a scam. I make money online. Plenty of other people do.
2.    Yes, there are scams online and your friend’s job has at least one warning sign that it is a scam. So here are the warning signs:
3.    The “employer” finds you out of the blue. Nobody gets offered jobs, by strangers, that they didn’t apply for.
4.    The “employer” is paying crazy good rates. $50 an hour is $8,000-$10,000 a month. A personal assistant is rarely, if ever, going to make that kind of money. If it sounds too good to be true. It probably is.
5.    The “employer” gives you the job on the spot and wants you to start right this second. That’s not how businesses work. Recruitment processes take time.
6.    The “employer” isn’t clear about what the job entails. When people are really hiring they know exactly what they want you to do.
7.    The “employer” sends emails riddled with spelling and grammar errors. This is a good sign that they are an overseas scammer. Typos do happen. Illiterates are rarely hiring people online, however.

You can find my list of jobs you can do at home that make more than $1,000 a month, here.

You’ll notice that most of them involve either working for yourself or through big companies. This reduces your chances of being cheated significantly.

I am sorry to hear about your friend, Katy. But don’t let it put you off working online.

Sincerely Yours,

Darren