You’ve heard their highly tempting proposition at least once: with this job or business, you’ll make money fast and in large amounts, without having to work as hard as you’re working now, and in the comfort of your own home. But are such offers to be trusted? How can you tell if a home business offer is fake or for real? Here are a few of the most common business scams you should avoid:

The Classic “Envelope Stuffing” Scam

Perhaps the most infamous of all home-based business scams, this one requires you to send a small fee to a company who will send you a specific number of envelopes to stuff. You are promised to be paid a fee for every envelope that you stuff, but more often than not, the money never comes, and instead of earning, you’ve actually lost money because of the fee you initially paid the company.

The “Call 1-900-“ Scam

Advertisements for this scam will tell you to call a 1-900 number in order to obtain more information on a home-business offer or a work-at-home job. But 1-900 numbers, unlike 1-800 ones, are not toll fee and require a fee, so you end up losing money by just making the call. And the information they promised? Often such information is next to trivial, and totally useless.

The Scam that Turns You into a Scammer

With this one, you’ll usually receive an email promising you lots of earnings by just using your computer at home to send out some emails. All you have to do is send them a small fee to receive some instructions.

What you get for the fee you paid them are instructions on how you can send the same email you received to other addresses. And the payback you get? Non-existent.

Some Tips on How You Can Avoid Home-business Scams

1. If it seems too good to be true, chances are, it probably is. If a home business idea or work-at-home-job offers you huge amounts of money for doing next to nothing, chances are, what you’ll actually get in return is next to nothing – or worse, you would’ve lost money as well.

2. Never pay a company for the chance to work. Remember, you’re looking for a job home-based business because you want to be paid, not the other way around.

3. If it’s spam, it’s most likely a scam. There’s only one thing to do with spam, and that’s hit delete.

A home-based business can be a very lucrative and fulfilling venture, but make sure that you’re starting one that’s legitimate and with actual worth. Otherwise, you’ll realize that you’ve left your job only to be taken advantage of.