Types of Work

Common types of work found in work-at-home schemes include:

* Stuffing envelopes
* Assembly of items of some type, such as crafts, jewelry, or medical equipment
* Data entry
* Processing medical claims
* Making phone calls
* Online surveys
* Sales of a product or service that is difficult or impossible to sell. This is often done in the form of a pyramid scheme.
* Some ads claim to offer a device that makes passive sales calls, and the "employee" will be paid a commission of the sales.

Some ads offer legitimate forms of work that really do exist, but exaggerate the salary, the effort that will have to be put into the job, or the amount of work that will be available. Many such ads do not even specify the type of work that will be performed.

Some similar schemes do not advertise work that would be performed at home, but may instead offer occasional, sporadic work away from home for large payments, paired with a lot of free time. Some common offers fitting this description are:

* Acting - seeking extras to perform in movies and television commercials.
* Mystery Shopping - Getting paid to shop and dine. While mystery shopping actually does exist, it requires hard work, is paid close to minimum wage, and most importantly, does not require an up-front fee to join.