Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY -- Scammers are getting better at duping people into work-from-home schemes, and the economy isn't helping.
People are looking for easier ways to make money these days, but money isn't easy to make.
"Any time there are promises of big pie in the sky, that's always a red flag," said Kevin Olsen, the director of the Utah Division of Consumer Protection.
Olsen says popular scams include processing medical billing claims and stuffing envelopes -- too bad machines can do both of those tasks.
"One of the biggest ones is when they want you to earn money off of the Internet and they are going to coach you to make money on the Internet. Usually, they are talking big dollars. They don't usually deliver those big dollars," Olsen said.
He hopes talking about this will keep people from becoming victims.
"An educated consumer is a scammer's worst nightmare. We think that if consumers can be informed of these kinds of scams, that's the best way to avoid them," Olsen said.
The Division of Consumer Protection says any time you are asked for your money up front to work from home, that can't be right.
For more information or to report one of these companies, call the FTC at 1-877-FTC-HELP (I-877-382-4357) or visit www.ftc.gov. You can also contact the Attorney General's Office Better Business Bureau or the Utah Division of Consumer Protection at www.consumerprotection.utah.gov.
E-mail: mrichards@ksl.com
