If you're looking for work you can do from home, it is important that you learn how to spot a work at home scam. Work at home scams abound online, because scam artists find it easy to prey on people who need to make money. These scams are often geared toward house-bound people, seniors, college students, and stay at home parents, but anyone looking for work from home opportunities can fall victim to such scams if they aren't prepared to protect themselves. Here are some tips to help you learn how to spot a work at home scam.

1. Familiarize yourself with the most common work at home scams. Some of the most prevalent scams are the work at home transcription scam, work at home data entry scam, work at home assembly scam, stuffing envelopes at home scam, and work at home survey scams. The folks operating these scams make their money by trying to sell you something, whether it's a how-to ebook or training materials. Sometimes they'll charge an application processing fee, or they'll charge some other random fee and tell you the fee is to make sure you are serious about doing the work. A real employer will not require you to pay money for training materials or to apply for a position.
2. Learn to study job ads. Does an ad for a job sound like it's trying to sell you something? A real employer who needs a job done isn't going to write an ad that says "Easy money! Set your own hours! Work from the comfort of your own home!" A real employer will post the details of what needs to be done, and he'll offer a realistic pay rate for the job. If a job ad is very vague and doesn't detail the responsibilities of the job or the tasks involved, proceed with caution. Beware of jobs that offer a lot of money for very little work. A real employer isn't going to pay someone $500 a day to do data entry. He'll be more likely to offer minimum wage.
3. Do some research on the company. A simple Google search can reveal a lot. If others have been scammed by the company, you'll likely read about it online. However, beware that a new scam might not have anything written about it online yet.
4. Ask questions. A legitimate employer won't have anything to hide and will be happy to answer questions you have about the company and the job. If someone refuses to answer your questions, that should be a red flag.
5. Go with your gut instincts. If you have a bad feeling about any job opportunity, then move onto something else. It's always better to protect yourself than to be sorry later.