Working from home??

[AsheSkyler]

This is my situation: I was recently offered a job by an online European auction to work from home proofreading and correcting letters sent out to US customers. Roughly about $30-$50 a day for an hour or so of editing, five days a week.

Now, scams are one of my obsessions. I look for them, I analyze them, every so often I will add my findings to my website. Depending on my mood I may play along with an email until I get bored with it, I may ignore it, or use it as a stress reliever. (May my son never hear me use such language.) But while the "work from home" and "European" (but not UK this time) sets off a red flag, nothing else does.
- A normal woman with legible English is sending the letters to edit, she is appropriately responsive to all my questions, and isn't just copy/pasting the same boring message over and over.
- The letters read like a pretty normal company that doesn't yet have an auto-filled template prepared for their customers.
- The pay is in a really normal range instead of the usual "make $100k annually doing nothing!"
- Not once have I been asked to pay anything.
- Future payments will be twice a month through Paypal. Not through Western Union or by giving up my bank information or receiving a check.

I am currently on a one-month probation and then I supposedly will be officially hired to keep doing this, not to mention get paid for what I'm currently doing. At the end of probation is when the proper paperwork will be done for "taxes, expenses, fees, interests and everything else necessary to have a healthy partnership with you".
Taxes are pretty obvious (and if this is for real I really dread tax season since foreign income has all sorts of wacky rules). "Expenses" is a big flag. Fees likely refer to Paypal fees, but is another cautionary flag.

I have done a search on the company names provided and they come up as real and not as a scam. There is no online record of being a text editor for this company, either as job postings or as something to avoid. I'm currently waiting on a reply back from one company this is supposedly from to see if they are aware of this and if it's legit, but I rarely get replies back from those kind of emails so I'm not holding my breath. I do have a resume out on a few sites like Monster.com and sometimes I do get real job offers that follow the same formatting as the first email I got about this "work from home" one. (Including from a business up the road wanting me to be a salesman. I really wish those recruiters would read my resume instead of lying that they did! I am NOT a salesman! Tangent for another day.) My bank statement alerts also have no logos, headers, and very poor formatting that it DOES look like a scam email when it comes in my inbox, so I know from experience some businesses do have rather plain and outright suspicious emails by default.

The main two voices in my internal war is "you've played with scams so much you don't know a real deal when you see it" and "you're getting so desperate for income you're turning a blind eye to danger".

Either this is for real or scammers have finally upped their game! It'll be an interesting learning experience in the long run. I just hope it doesn't end in legal trouble and sleeping with a shotgun.

 

[Ste11aeres]

Like you, I'm pretty suspicious of such things. But, given the details you mentioned, I think you have good judgement in such things. Learn more details about what "expenses" refers to.

 

[Cali Cat]

I'm another skeptic about online solicitations for employment. What you've outlined sounds reasonable though. I suppose every once in awhile one of these outfits could be legit. I'd wanna know what the "expenses" are too, and I wouldn't sign anything electronically or otherwise until you're sure what you're dealing with ... but I'm sure you know that already.

Hey, if it does turn out to be something good, and they need another American proofreader/editor, let me know.

 

[AdamR]

Are you aware that the SERPs you get on Google, et al, vary by country? As I am in the UK, I get different search results than you do. If you like, you can message me the name of the company and I can do a search on my end, to check for red flags you may not find from where you are. If it is a scam, it's possible the perpetrator may have only just started targeting the U.S., but has a history already on this side of the Atlantic, particularly in Britain, where English is also native. There's a bit of a flag, possibly: Why are they looking so far afield?

Also: In what country is this firm located? Most European concerns have no trouble finding fluent readers and writers of English locally. If you haven't done so yet, though I suspect you have, look at their website to see if the English is correct. If it is, I'd wonder why they need to solicit the services of an outsider now.

The reference to "taxes, expenses, fees, interests..." may be worded that way as a catch-all. I've seen the same list on other contracts here. But yes, I would clarify that language before proceeding any further.

So sorry, AsheSkyler, but I'm not at all certain about this deal, yet.

 

[Etzelaire]

Could you set an appointment at some place nearby and do the paperwork there? I don't apply for any online job if I don't know where to go physically if I have a problem with the entity.

 

[gregmcph]

How long have you worked at it?
As long as you haven't sent them any money yet, I guess you will find out soon enough if it is a real job or not. When you first paycheque arrives. Or doesn't

Just be hyper aware of how personal the info you send them is.

 

[AsheSkyler]

Are you aware that the SERPs you get on Google, et al, vary by country? As I am in the UK, I get different search results than you do. If you like, you can message me the name of the company and I can do a search on my end, to check for red flags you may not find from where you are. If it is a scam, it's possible the perpetrator may have only just started targeting the U.S., but has a history already on this side of the Atlantic, particularly in Britain, where English is also native. There's a bit of a flag, possibly: Why are they looking so far afield?

Also: In what country is this firm located? Most European concerns have no trouble finding fluent readers and writers of English locally. If you haven't done so yet, though I suspect you have, look at their website to see if the English is correct. If it is, I'd wonder why they need to solicit the services of an outsider now.

The reference to "taxes, expenses, fees, interests..." may be worded that way as a catch-all. I've seen the same list on other contracts here. But yes, I would clarify that language before proceeding any further.

So sorry, AsheSkyler, but I'm not at all certain about this deal, yet.

Aye, it's one thing I hate about search engines. I'm suspicious too. I'll PM the company name in a minute.

It's based out of Poland, and their site is completely in Polish. No option of viewing the site in English unless you have some kind of toolbar that does that. Their hiring pitch is that they want people fluent in American English since there are subtle differences between American and British. (My personal favorite being "simple", as one of my customers at my seasonal job informed me when he meant to compliment his mother-in-law by saying she was a simple woman. He survived the incident, by the way.)

Could you set an appointment at some place nearby and do the paperwork there? I don't apply for any online job if I don't know where to go physically if I have a problem with the entity.

That may be a wee bit difficult, I don't think they have an office here. If they did, it'd probably be in a really big city like New York knowing my luck.

How long have you worked at it?
As long as you haven't sent them any money yet, I guess you will find out soon enough if it is a real job or not. When you first paycheque arrives. Or doesn't

Just be hyper aware of how personal the info you send them is.

Two days. Aye, I'm pretty cautious. They already had my name from goodness knows where (probably the career site) so I just confirmed what I already had posted there that's "publicly" available. Everything else is kept pretty professional. I really hope it's legit, I've gotten used to the incompetence of the "Nigerians" and "UK lottos". I don't want a scammer that makes me think, I want one that I can laugh at. =(

 

[AdamR]

I've already sent this info to you privately, AsheSkyler, along with screenshots of online findings, proving that this is indeed a scam. Posting to everyone else here to make them aware of the situation, should they get a similar offer.

The company, Redcoon, is a real one, owned by Media-Saturn, Germany. This scam is not affiliated with the real company. Its name is being used for some shadow people's nefarious purposes (I found this out for certain after sending your message).

I wanted to make sure everybody saw this, because one of the scams they're perpetrating is a bit new. They seem to be "hiring" on unsuspecting people as editors, then immediately promoting them to "representatives". This is a double-whammy, in that they not only ask for your banking details for this promotion, for reasons I haven't been able to determine, but worse, they ask you to be the contact for what are actually fraudulent transactions--so YOU become the criminal who asks for consumers' money. This gets them the cash and a quick getaway, and you get all of the the legal trouble, as someone who can be readily tracked down.

If these unscrupulous b**tards would use their genius for something positive, all the world's problems could be solved.

P.S.: I understand that if everyone in the world got the same search results, a simple Internet search could become a nightmare. Still, things like this shouldn't be so hard for anyone, anywhere, to find!

 

[AsheSkyler]

Aye, I read it and I greatly appreciate it AdamR.

Any mods reading, feel free to transfer this to the Obsession forum. Scams are one of my obsessions and I have a shiny new toy I've never played with before. Been a while since I had a little playmate and I've gotten bored.

I'll post updates when anything interesting happens. As of now, I have about $75 "earned", and Petra and I are having a nice little chat. I'm not giving away anything she can't already find out from the link in my email signature. I am still on my "one month probation" and she hasn't gotten around yet to offering me a position as a representative. She is asking me what my career goals are, so it can't be long in coming.

 

[AdamR]

I'd tell her your goals are to work for a legitimate business!

This could be fun. You could say you've been taken in by a number of scams in the past, including one where you were used as a tool by a third party, to cheat people out of their money.........

 

[Chew Magna]

Does anyone have any resources in finding one?

Recently my being unemployed has become a real issue here at home. I'm at risk of having to move out because my girlfriend simply can't support both of us by herself (if it comes down to that I'll be on the streets). The problem is, I'm just not fit for anything I can find. I've done plenty of factory work in the past, but due to many back injuries I'm unable to do that work anymore. I've worked in sales and customer service, but I could never hack it there, and working around/with so many people always ends up being my downfall. I always excel at my position, I simply can't wrap my head around the social aspect of most jobs.

Apparently my girlfriend's sister is a work at home mom doing data entry online for a company. This is next to perfect for me, I already spend 12 hours or more at the computer every day. Problem is, this company doesn't deal with Missouri, which is where I live. Would anyone have some pointers? Maybe other companies like this? I've tried looking but there are just so many scams out there, it's difficult to impossible to filter them out.

 

[Kari Suttle]

I know this is something that requires technical know-how and possibly a degree, but I know an acquaintence whose husband works from home as a web-designer. I don't know if he still works with a company or if he's freelancing, though.

 

[Judge]

Work From Home: The Top 100 Companies Offering Flexible Jobs In 2014 - Forbes

 

[Chew Magna]

I know this is something that requires technical know-how and possibly a degree, but I know an acquaintence whose husband works from home as a web-designer. I don't know if he still works with a company or if he's freelancing, though.

I am a bit of a computer junky, but only on the hardware side. I could never get into software or web design.

Work From Home: The Top 100 Companies Offering Flexible Jobs In 2014 - Forbes

Thanks, looking at that right now.

 

[Alpha Ntu]

I use Odesk. Guru and Elance are also options to find real remote jobs.

 

[Chew Magna]

I did some poking around at that link after it was posted here. I found one data entry job (kind of what I was looking for, something simple) and it required an associate's degree. Hmmm...

Anyway, I finally ended up landing a job, I'm working as a driver for the car lot my girlfriend works for. It was a bit nerve wracking at first, but now after almost three weeks I'm getting comfortable with it. It's weird having this job, I'm not from here and I never really went driving around to explore the place, so I don't know where a lot of things are, especially in regards to neighboring towns and such. I end up having to take a gps unit with me all the time, even on repeat places because I can never remember how to get there lol. Add to that the fact that I'm a very passive and timid driver who experiences severe tunnel vision while driving. But it's not bad at all, the people are all nice, I'm by myself for the majority of the time, and the times I do have to interact with people (especially with people I've never met), it's always brief and I'm back on the road. The only issue I have is that I'm on call basically all the time. That doesn't really sit well with me, I much prefer having a set schedule, I'm a lot more comfortable that way. One of my biggest pet peeves in the world is being interrupted when I'm doing something, so when I get up, expecting to have the day off, have my coffee and sit down at the computer to start my thangs, it's incredibly frustrating to get called in to work.

 

[HisShadowX]

I ask because I'm having a hard time working around people and the fear of losing my job creates a lot of anxiety.

Anyone know some data entry jobs or something I can survive on?

 

[paloftoon]

I work at a cyber school. You need to be certified though. Certification includes going through student teaching experiences, albeit in-person. You might be good doing student teaching in a rural area if possible- easier than urban areas generally speaking. Some people like to tutor because it's 1-1, and working in small groups might be easier to handle too.

 

[HappyHermit]

I'm hearing people mention virtual assistants more and more. I've never been one, but there does appear to be an International Virtual Assistants Association and a UK Association of Virtual Assistants. Perhaps they have some info on how to become one / work as one.

 

[0x5279616e]

A lot of the "large" IT hardware, infrastructure, and some software companies (such as Xerox, CenturyLink, and Adobe) have remote tier 1 tech support positions available quite often. Basically the first line of help for their clients, involves a lot of phone calls, but it seldom involves social interactions, more just "my product isn't working, what do I do?". I don't know about having a career path around it, but it's usually a full time position, at home, with little or no experience required (HS diploma, 6 months of customer service). If you're not technically inclined, definitely try to record and write down information from the training materials. These jobs average around $15-$17 USD per hour depending on your location, any applicable experience, and availability. That number can go up over time, and negotiating a raise is something you will want to learn to do if you've worked at a job like that for over a year and not had a small salary boost. Don't expect to max out at much more than $20 / hr.


I wouldn't depend on that by itself to support a family of 4 in a house, but it can absolutely cover basic monthly expenses for a couple with an apartment or condo.