Resources Ensuring You Never Get Scammed
By Trent Brownrigg
Posted Friday, December 17, 2004
The internet is loaded with SCAMS aimed at taking as much money from you as possible in the shortest amount of time. With so many innocent people trying to find a great opportunity to work at home it’s easy for scam artists to draw you in with the promise of riches.
Fortunately, there are resources available for you to check with to help ensure that you are not helping a scam artist to get rich by throwing away your hard earned money.
There are quite a few of these opportunity “regulators” as I like to call them. Use these resources to investigate an opportunity before you get involved and/or send any money:
1) Federal Trade Commission (http://www.ftc.gov):
The FTC has a lot of information for businesses and consumers. You can check out things such as the top 10 consumer fraud complaints, work-at-home schemes, your legal rights, and much more. You can also file a complaint if you have already had a problem.
2) Better Business Bureau (http://www.bbb.org):
The BBB is a very well known and reliable resource for checking out businesses. They provide information on over 2 million organizations. You can find reliability reports on organizations as well as a lot of other helpful information. As with the FTC you can also file a complaint at the BBB if you need to.
3) Scambusters (http://www.scambusters.org/):
These guys claim to be the #1 Publication on Internet Fraud. You can find a wealth of information and resources on this site aimed at avoiding scams and fraud. They also offer links to other sites that may be helpful.
4) Internet Trade Bureau (http://www.internettradebureau.com/):
The ITB was formed to help promote fair business practices on the internet. They offer site reviews, and tracking of consumer complaints. They do not retain any members who get complaints.
5) ScamWatch (http://www.scamwatch.com/):
These guys offer a scam directory, a list of things to watch out for, scam reports, most likely scams, and more. There is a lot of information on this site designed to prevent you from being scammed.
You can also check with these organizations:
(http://www.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp)
(http://www.quatloos.com/)
(http://www.web-police.org/)
(http://www.dsa.org/)
(http://www.fraud.org/)
Here’s a list of email addresses for you to report scams, fraud, and spam:
-Email the FTC to report "get rich quick" spam email scams: uce@ftc.gov
-Internet Fraud Center at fraudinfo@psinet.com
-National Fraud Information Center email: nfic@internetmci.com
-Email address of the US Postal Inspection Service where all "Chain Letter" spam email scams should be sent: fraud@usps.gov and customer@email.usps.gov
As you can see there are plenty of resources available to you so you should be able to check out any money making opportunity very thoroughly to ensure your safety. The above list is by no means all the organizations you can check with but they are some very reliable resources. If you find an opportunity listed in the scam or fraud section, of any of the above sites, I would highly recommend staying away from it.
Remember, there are many legitimate opportunities for you to choose from. Working at home has tons of rewards, so don’t give up on your dreams just because you are afraid of getting scammed. Do your homework on any opportunity you are pursuing and you should be fine.
Now, go and find yourself a legitimate business opportunity to secure your financial destiny!
About the Author
Trent Brownrigg is a successful home business entrepreneur, webmaster, and author of work at home articles. Learn more at: (http://www.work-at-home-jobs-iowa.com). Find great products & services for your home, business, and family here: (http://quickinfo247.com/8198358)
