A Work-at-Home scheme is a get-rich-quick scheme in which a victim is lured by an offer to be employed at home, very often doing some simple task in a minimal amount of time with a large amount of income that far exceeds the market rate for the type of work. The true purpose of such an offer is for the perpetrator to extort money from the victim.

Work-at-home schemes have been around for decades. Originally found as ads in newspapers or magazines, they have expanded to more high-tech media, such as television and radio ads, and on the Internet.

Legitimate work-at-home opportunities do exist, and millions of Americans do their jobs in the comfort of their own homes. But anyone seeking such an employment opportunity must be wary of accepting a home employment offer, as only about one in 42 such ads have been determined to be legitimate . Most legitimate jobs at home require some form of post-high-school education, such as a college degree or certificate, or trade school, and some experience in the field in an office or other supervised setting. Additionally, many legitimate at-home jobs are not like those in schemes are portrayed to be, as they are often performed at least some of the time in the company's office, require more self discipline than a traditional job, and have a higher risk of firing.

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.

Victims

The typical victim of a work-at-home scheme may be:

• A burned out employee of a legitimate job seeking an exit to his/her stressful lifestyle
• An unemployed person seeking high-paying easy work
• An uneducated person with few or no skills looking for a job with a good salary
• An employed person wanting to make extra money to supplement his/her regular income.
• Senior citizens, disabled persons, stay-at-home parents, and others who cannot easily leave home in order to make a living.
• Those with busy schedules full of unpaid activities who wish to earn money in their spare time.
• Those with long or tiresome commutes looking to remain at home and eliminate their travel to work.
• Someone who doesn't take the time to carefully investigate the industry, job and company.