Work-at-Home Scam Ratio Hits 60-to-1, Doubling in Four Years, Reports RatRaceRebellion.com

March 4, 2010 - PRLog -- Woodstock, CT -- The "scam ratio" in work-at-home job offers now stands at 60-to-1, up 100% in four years, report CNN Internet fraud expert Christine Durst and ex-Wall Street attorney Michael Haaren, who oversee work-at-home job-site RatRaceRebellion.com. Durst and Haaren, who have co-authored two books on home-based work, also assist the FTC and FBI in tracking and investigating scams.

"We review 4,500-5,000 work-at-home leads weekly," says http://www.RatRaceRebellion.com CEO Haaren, "and many scams go far beyond the 'golden oldies' like envelope stuffing. We've seen scammers put up bogus corporate websites with entire management teams 'webnapped' from legitimate sites, complete with executive photos, bios, the works. Other sites use phony testimonials -- we call them 'testiphonials' -- and high fees hidden in bleached-out text, video actresses posing as 'experts,' etc."    

"With deep budget cuts, and the Net spreading globally, state and federal authorities are working heroically, but they can't stem the tide," Haaren notes. "The epidemic not only wrecks individuals and families, it endangers the telework movement generally, and threatens to cripple one of our most effective responses to global warming."

"Work-at-home scams are consistently in the FTC's 'Top Ten' complaints," says http://www.RatRaceRebellion.com co-founder Christine Durst. "We worked closely with the FTC on 'Operation Shortchange,' which resulted in legal actions against a number of alleged scammers here in the U.S. But with con artists hiding behind shell companies in Belize and Cyprus, and living in Brazil, Nigeria, Benin, Romania and other offshore locations, there's only so much that U.S. agencies can do."

Durst and Haaren also note that recent work-at-home scams have included eBay specialist "certifications," rebate-processing jobs (actually, affiliate-marketing schemes), check-processing "commission" jobs (involving bogus checks, with victims wiring funds abroad), and merchandise-forwarding scams, where victims act as a "fence" for credit-card thieves operating offshore.

Although some mystery shopping and "paid survey" sites are legitimate, Durst and Haaren say, these sectors are riddled with scams, as is the data-entry field.

What red flags should job seekers look for? "If it sounds like 'easy money,' it probably means easy for the scammers, and hard times for the victim," says Haaren. "We also tell people to watch out for the 'Three Bs' -- beaches, bikinis, and 'Benjamins' -- $100 bills fanned out across the page. And if you see a big fellow in an Aloha shirt  smiling out at you and toasting you with a drink with a tiny parasol in it, run for the hills."

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About RatRaceRebellion.com
RatRaceRebellion.com is a popular site for screened home-based jobs, and is maintained by CNN Internet fraud expert Christine Durst and ex-Wall Street attorney Michael Haaren. Durst and Haaren are also the principals of Staffcentrix, LLC, which provides virtual-career training programs to the U.S. State Department and Armed Forces. Their newest book on home-based jobs, recommended by the Wall Street Journal, is "Work at Home Now: The No-nonsense Guide to Finding Your Perfect Home-based Job, Avoiding Scams, and Making a Great Living." Their media appearances include ABC News 20/20, the Dr. Oz Show, the Tyra Banks Show, the Wall Street Journal, Woman's World, and many more. For further information, please see http://www.RatRaceRebellion.com.