There may be a way to determine whether a work-at-home offer is an opportunity or a scam.
Sarah Kimmel loves her job. She's a full-time help desk manager for an IT consulting firm based in Southern California.
“All of our clients, when they have an issue with their computer, they give me a call and I remote control their computer and fix it,” she said.
Remote controlling is key because Kimmel doesn't work in California. She does it all from her home in Utah. She is one of the 3.2 million Americans who, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, telecommute.
Kimmel says it beats the traditional commute.
“We don’t need to coordinate babysitting and things like that because usually someone is here,” she explained.
Kris Menendez is also a mom who works at home. Just feet away from her bedroom, Menendez helps JetBlue travelers get from point A to point B.
“A day like today is crazy because we have sales and canceled flights back east,” she said.
She helps with “any questions, canceled flights, changes they need to make, booking reservations, frequent flier program, True Blue.”
Menendez said getting a job with JetBlue took her a couple of tries. Between attempts, she considered other work-at-home-opportunities.
“I mostly ran into scams,” she said. “They want you to pay to work at home.”
U.S. Postal Inspector Stephen Danson warns when consumers hand over money for training materials, equipment, or books, there will be no payoff in the end.
“You should never pay them any money to get a job, for training materials,” he said.
This is just one of the many, many work-at-home scams he said the postal service sees every day.
“They keep going and they reinvent themselves. They’re very good at making things seem legitimate,” he said.
But here's an easy test: If you are ever asked to pay, consider it a scam. When you work, they pay you, not the other way round.
Danson added you can't take job ads at face value. Scammers will use names of well-known companies or tout something like "as seen on USA Today" or the "'Today' show."
Avoid anything involving check-cashing or an offer of an advance on your pay.
“No one is going to pay you a lot of money for practically doing nothing,” Danson said.
Once employees find a legitimate stay-at-home job, Menendez said they should commit to it.
“I treat it like a regular job,” she said. “We start at 9. I don’t plan on getting in at 9:30. I start at 9.”
Every now and then, Kimmel has to lock her office door to block out the family. Still, both women hope they'll never have to go back to the grind of a regular commute.
“A lot of my friends are like, ‘Oh man, wish I could work from home,’ and things like that,” Kimmel said.
To find a real work-at-home job, search keywords like "flexible hours" or "telecommute." To see all the scams, too, search keywords like "work-at-home," or "work from home."
