A work-at-home opportunity claimed for a $150 fee up front, employees could make thousands.
“They could work from home and get paid $10.00 for every envelope they stuffed,” says Stephanie Barrett, US Postal Inspector.
Sounds like a great deal - right?
“So, the victims would receive 200 envelopes thinking they are going to earn $2000 for stuffing these envelops,” says Barrett.
But it was a scam. Here are the red flags to look for:
”They are only receiving money for responses received and that is less than 1%,” says Barrett.
The second red flag was immediately apparent.
”One of the big misrepresentations that was left out of these letters, was that people had to buy their own stamps. In the letter, it stated the stamps were paid for,” says Barrett.
Postal inspectors began working the case and caught the two sisters and one of their husbands behind the scheme.
”Over the 8 years this scheme was run, there were about 25,000 victims totaling more than $3.5 million dollars in loss,” says Barrett.
Inspectors ended up seizing the house and 20 acres of land the husband and wife lived on, which was worth over $1 million dollars.
Here`s some simple advice:
”Do their due diligence. Get on the internet, Google the name of the company, put ‘scam’ behind the company. Look on the Better Business Bureau`s website and verify that this company is a legitimate company.”
