There is now a tribe of Filipinos who are earning well working at home. Online jobs are making a huge difference, one can earn in dollars even without going abroad.
However, not all job listings and offers you find online are legit. There are scammers who are out to get your money. Beware of them!
These are just some of the signs that a job posting you are considering may very well be a big scam.
First, the client or company ask you for money, even how little it is. The client-scammer could say that the money is a “security deposit” or payment for software that you will use in rendering your service. If you get this type of offer, decline right away, this is one sign that the job post is a scam. Legit jobs online will not ask you to pay first.
Second, the client has no or little feedback or review from other freelancers. Online job platforms like Upwork, 199jobs.net, OnlineJobs.ph, etc features a ‘review’ or ‘feedback’ for both clients and service providers. If client account is very fresh, you have to take precaution. The employer could be legit, but he/she could also be a scammer who made a new account because his/her old one was already reported as scam.
If your instinct tells you that the job opportunity is promising, the next thing you need to check is if client now has “verified payment” connected to his/her employer account. This way you are sure that the credit card / debit card / paypal account of client is already registered and verified by the online job platform, and thus client can pay you after completing your contract. If this checks out and you like the offer, you may want to risk and try the client for one contract. However, it would be beneficial to you if the job you will accept is via hourly rate instead of fix rate. Hourly contracts are generally monitored and payments are protected by online job platforms.
Clients who have legit online marketing businesses will surely go for a “verified payment” status. If the client offering you a “job” remains on “unverified payment” status – iwas ka na. Kasi di sila nagpaverify sa Upwork, sa OnlineJobs.ph, sa Freelancer, etc.
Third, make use of Google and crowd sourcing. Try to search if client’s name or job offer title is flagged as scam in Google or Yahoo search engines. Search too if the company that client supposedly represents is real or if it has good reputation. If you are a member of a work at home groups and online freelancer groups in the Philippines, ask them if anyone has experience with said client and if they would recommend you taking the job offer. If during your research you found suspicious results for clients, think twice about the offer.
Fourth, you got an offer with a suspiciously very high salary/rate. If it’s too good to be true, it could be a scam. This is not to say that your service is not worth a high rate, but you are the best judge of your outputs and performance. If you are now a sought-after, high-caliber online freelancer, it would be expected that potential client will offer you big contracts, but if you are a newbie work at home freelancer and you are just starting and suddenly there is someone offering you 300 USD for 10 hours work, think twice as it’s most likely a scam in the making.
Fifth, “Get Paid Surveys” offers. Market research are important to companies as it helps them feel the market and thus can create winning strategies for the company. Surveys and product tests are just some of the tools used by marketers. However, when it comes to paid online surveys, you have to really investigate as to the legitimacy of the offer. Why do we say this?
The iSensey team has been doing web publishing since 2010, we have a good knowledge of how online marketers and publishers make money online. Unfortunately, we also know of the scams being utilize by unethical bloggers and online marketers. We really strongly suggest that if you are looking for online opportunities to earn money, stay away from paid surveys. There are more scam offers than legit one on this type of money making method. Go for online jobs from reputable companies like Upwork and Freelancer.com or build your own websites and implement ads like Google Adsense, MGID, Media.net, Taboolar, etc or do affiliate marketing promoting products like that of Amazon.
This post is not to discourage you to try working from home, because there are more legitimate job offers than there are scams out there. But you must always protect yourself if you intend to work online by evaluating carefully the job listings and offers you get.
We hope that you will join the thousands of Filipinos who are working and earning well doing work at home jobs. Apply to legit jobs!