This article is by guest blogger Sarah Lam - Writing Consultant.

“I will never get cheated”. People always say so. At least you think so.

Too bad you never know when someone will cheat on you.

It is time to review again, how you can avoid scams whether you are looking for work or business opportunities.

There are eight tips to remember.

1. Too good to be true.

When someone is making an offer you can’t even believe it, chances are the offer is a scam to lure you into giving all your hard-earned money to the irresponsible people behind the scam.

2. Use your common sense.

I am sure you are old enough to think logically at all times. If you come across a job offering you all the money you want and yet you have nothing much to do, just how true can that be? There is no free lunch.

3. Get rich quick? Think again!

There is no such thing as get rich quick scheme that really works. With so many stories around the world involving get rich quick schemes, you should have known better that they are all scams.

4. Think hard before you agree on any deals.

Yes, think, think and think again many times before you say ‘yes’ to any deals anyone offers to you. If someone offers you RM5000 a month just to work as a data entry at home, think of those who earn RM5 per hour as a data entry in the office. If it is so easy to earn RM5000 a month, then there won’t be anyone working for a mere RM5 per hour.

5. Why pay for a job when you are supposed to get paid to do the job?

This is the question you need to ask yourself when you are looking for a job. Job agency? It is better to do your research before engage in any job agencies to find a job. Never pay any money to get a job.

6. Ask as many questions as possible during interviews.

When you are going for an interview, make sure you ask the job scope, the salary range, the working hours, the terms and conditions and of course, the benefits of working for the company. Chances are if any of the answers are suspicious enough for you, they lied. Think of as many questions you want to ask so you get to know more about the company and the people behind it.

7. No one offers you a job before an interview.

Just as much as we want to know our potential employers, they want to know about us too. Therefore, usually before you secure a job, you have to go through interviews. If someone offers you a job without having an interview, beware!

8. Look out for work-at-home scams.

Scan the newspapers and I am sure you get a lot of classifieds claiming that you can earn big money while working at home. I don’t deny the possibility but it is the way they conduct the business that is the scam. I know there are many people who wants to work at home. In fact, I am working at home.

Once, I sent a payment of RM80 for an ‘instructional CD’ complete with the ‘materials’ I need to start my own home business. I realised that whatever I have received from them are useless or to be exact, garbage.

Usually, they will talk about how much you can earn by doing small jobs such as sending out letters and so on. Then, they will proceed to ask you to pay a ‘small’ amount of fee to get started. By that time, you will believe it is true that you will hand the money to them instantly. The payment is usually through bank-in. Beware! Never trust such a scheme. It doesn’t work. They are the only ones who will be rich and you will get poorer as soon as you bank-in the money.

With these tips, I hope you will be better equipped the next time you search for a job. Good luck!

Thanks to Rommel for informing us that we are mentioned in one of the section in New Straits Times Press (NSTP). In this article, they are talking about Data Entry Scam by job agencies. They suggest the readers to identify the scam companies with our list of scam companies.

Thanks to your community who report all the scam companies that cheated them. Our list had grew from days to days. From this point, we understand that many people is forgetting the rule of employment - "Never pay any money upfront before getting a job".

Feel free to click on the image below to read the whole article.

DataEntryPortal is a company for general Data Entry Work. However, as there are thousands of scam artists also trying to sell this kind of lucrative business opportunities, it has virtually become impossible to find a genuine one. This article will try to illustrate some point which will clarify that, DataEntryPortal.com, like many other scam artists, also falls into the world of black listed names.

First and foremost, they do not have any address or any person’s contact umber. Had it been a legit organization sincerely working towards its goal, it must have an office and customer support centre, but none you can find in the website, clearly signaling something fishy is going on.

The promised amount per day is around USD 400, which is really quite high for Data Entry works and thus naturally springs out an air of suspicion. This suspicion is further fuelled by the fact that when you see, just like other scam sites, it also requires you to pay a ONE TIME fee of USD 57. So, if it is a work that you will do, and will pay a commission to the company, then you should have no reason to pay any startup fees; but, here you have to pay which is obviously a telling factor that you are going to waste your money and nothing else.

In their testimonial section, there is no way to verify the so called “Satisfied” users who have put their comment to bolster the claim of DataEntryPortal.com. Therefore, you do not have any guarantee that the comments are really genuine or not. Further, on top of the page, they have assured you that they can not in any way help you to identify the person, thus, al these comments are just lies for sure.

Here is a comment from the victim:

I need to tell you about the biggest scam I have ever seen. The site is http://www.DataEntryPortal.com

If you want to see a scam to its fullest, this is it. I paid $57.00 and all I got was some links to other Data Entry companies that you have to pay more money…That was it! I could have found the same content and more by doing a search on Google for “Data Entry Jobs” So I contacted them because they show a “Risk free Guarantee” on their site which is the only reason I would have tried it anyways. BUT, when I requested a refund they said to read the fine print of their “Terms of Use” which states no refunds. Very deceptive advertisement. I see why they would not give the money back because if you see what you get for $57.00, they would have 100% of their customers demanding refunds.

Source: Joe

All in all, I’ll recommend you to stay away from such scam artists who claims to provide you Data entry jobs in exchange of fee and with no address or any person’s contact number. These are just imposters and cheaters who will rob you off your money if you give them any chance.

"We are South East Asia’s only community network that promotes working from home, teleworking and the running of SOHO businesses through the use of information and communications technology."

eHomeMakers.net is a work from home community. It mainly focuses on running business using informatio, communication technology and telemarketing. This web portal offers varieties of work opportunity that can bring a nice balance in professional and home based income stream.

You have to be a member of this web community in order to enjoy all the full resources. To be an effective user, the membership is free. The overall appearance of the web site is quite relaxing and helpful. Here is the few sections worth reading:-

Scam

This section is listing all kinds of related issues about scams from articles to a list of scam sites, extremely in depth. Perhaps, I will share some of my scam tips with them.

Home Based Profile

Here have a lot of useful articles :- tips on home based business management and ways to improve the overall business procedure of a running business.

HomeBiz Innovation

The following sections also gives a detail approach in home based business and also provides a helping hand on how to use the technology to reap the maximum benefits.

Singles

This section is dedicated to Singles who have concerns with issues like financial planning, civil and syariah laws, general issues and relationship matters.

Domestic Issue

This section shed light on various social family issues. Alongside different consumer related case studies have been presented and there is a sub section which encourages the kids to involve in more creative activities in their spare times; it outlines various ideas and tips on how to start.

Safety and Health

The next section details out the health issues, by providing tips on balanced diet, nutrition and other general areas. It also includes a who sub-section dedicated to women’s health. After that it has a mini section on environmental discussions and current developments.

The web portal is actually more than a work from home platform as by going through the following section. It is evident that ehomemaker.net can be used for many other purposes.

The portal, beside all those useful stuffs, hosts a comprehensive list of part-time and full-time work, with clearly outlining the requirements and contact details. The listed jobs are also quite well-off in most cases. Overall the web portal can be of great advantage to anyone looking for a foothold on the field of work from home business fields.

Recently, there are two jobs posted on our job board. These jobs is talked about making money by joining WFHAsia.com and WFHMalaysia.com respectively. Our Scam Investigation team did a quick check on these websites. Here is the report:-

It is another Work-From-Home Business strategy that promises to germinate a decent income flow to the user of the system. It is available in five different languages and you are required to input some of your information to begin with.

From the beginning, a positive impression is created in user’s mind due the attractive home page it has. When you input some of your information such as name, country, phone number etc, you are taken to a page where you’ll see some statistical record.

Now as you move forward, you continue the journey inside this impressively well-designed web site. For the first time, you get to know that it’s about wellness product; and revolving around wellness industry. The web portal claims the importance and boom of this industry by instituting the following fact:

“The Wellness Industry is a new, exciting industry that is already achieving sales of $500 Billion in the U.S. ASIA, follows the same trend and has even passed the $500 Billion mark (That is an amazing $300 Billion growth in 5 short years). Within the next few years The Wellness Industry is well on its way to pass the growth of the $1 Trillion auto industry and the $1 Trillion PC industry.”

From these facts it is really pretty clear that this industry does have a future and that the web portal seems to be genuine, as its offering has got some basis. So, on the next screen we can see some testimonials of satisfied customer. If we proceed further, you will end up having a screen where you can fill out all the details to start as an active member.

However, as you can see at the bottom of the page that it is not actually free and the minimum amount you’ve to invest is RM 200. If you are not interested, you can back off at this point or you can further proceed. If you’ve successfully completed the form, you should be assigned a coach, coach name will appear in the screen. He will suppose to contact you within 48 hours. In the meanwhile, you can see a video sent into your inbox to get a general overview.

From our experience, it is a 99% scam site. I am sure you get nothing after you pay the RM200 for investment. They are trying to cheat you by showing all the unbelievable statistic. Once you get excited and pay them, then you are fallen into their well-designed trap. No return back!

Don’t believe all this "Too Good to be True" program. We are feeling sad to see all the victims report their experience to us. By reading their scam stories, you will know whether this WTFASia.com/WFHMalaysia.com is genuine or not.