How Do I Know If Online Work Is Real or Fake?
You have an offer of online work in front of you, and before you fill anything in, you want to know whether it is real.
An offer can be checked in a set order. By the end of this guide, you will know what to check at each step and how, and you will leave with the questions in that order.
We do guided affiliation. Other ways of doing this exist, and they are not wrong for being different.
The steps below draw on two pages from the US Federal Trade Commission: one on scams in general, updated in July 2023, and one on scams that come as offers of work, updated in March 2023.
Step 1. Check who is behind the online work
What you check: whether the people offering it are who they say they are.
How to check it: the FTC describes scammers who pretend to be from an organisation you know. Find that organisation yourself, and reach it another way than through the message you received.
Step 2. Check what the offer asks you to give
What you check: the information you are asked for, and when.
How to check it: the FTC advises against giving personal or financial information in answer to a request you did not expect. Ask why each piece is needed, and decide whether you expected to be asked.
Step 3. Check which way the money goes
What you check: whether you are the one receiving, or the one asked to put something in.
How to check it: the FTC describes people who end up buying starter kits, so-called training or certifications that turn out to be useless. Ask, in writing, what you need to buy or deposit, now or later. We go through that point by point in how can I make money from my phone without investment.
Step 4. Check whether you are being rushed, or promised a prize
What you check: the pace and the promises.
How to check it: the FTC lists pressure to act right away, and talk of a problem or a prize, among the signs of a scam. Take a day before you answer.
Step 5. Put the same questions to us
There is nothing to buy and nothing to deposit, at any point.
We ask for information too: first the form, where there is no experience to show. Later, we ask for what we need to send you what you receive, which comes from us. Everything happens in writing.
For the other steps, check us the way you would check anyone. More questions for any offer are in starting a side hustle with no experience.
The questions, in order
- Who is behind this, and can I reach them another way?
- What am I asked to give, and did I expect it?
- Am I the one receiving, or the one sending?
- Am I being rushed?