There are many work-at-home Opportunities on the internet these days. And for every legitimate opportunity there are 50 scams that claim to do the same thing yet leave you with nothing. You can find many scam listings off line as well, they post ads in your local paper, on online job bulletins, and road signs placed on busy intersections.

If you learn to protect yourself from scammers and are able to recognize the most common work-at-home scams you will save yourself a lot of time and money. Here is a list of some of the most typical work at home scams.

The first is Envelope stuffing, one of the most ubiquitous scams on and off line. These advertisements will promise you up to five dollars per envelope that you complete. In reality these jobs simply do not exist

Excerpt from the US Postal Inspection Services, "In practically all businesses, envelope stuffing has become a highly mechanized operation using sophisticated mass mailing techniques and equipments which eliminates any profit potential for an individual doing this type of work-at-home. This scam is easily avoided and no one should be falling for it these days.

Another work at home opportunity scam that has been operating for years is a work at home assembly jobs. These companies make it seem like you will be doing simple work and craft assembly. However they make sign up for expensive training packets, you have to buy the supplies for them, and mail your completed work on your own. After you complete your work these companies will use an assortment of excuses as to why your work did not meet their requirements. This goes on and on until you give up completely having wasted your valuable time and money.

One common scam that has been around for years is the chain letter scam. You are asked to make copies of a letter and send them to a list of people after you send ten dollars to the people running the scheme. They make you believe that soon you will be receiving envelopes full of money, when in fact the only people making money from chain letters are the few at the top of the chain who always change their names and addresses.

Among all these are also Phishing scams, these websites and emails vary in content but their plan is very devious. They will do anything and say anything to get a hold of your valuable personal information. This can lead to identity theft and unauthorized withdrawal of funds from your accounts.

The good news is that there are a ton of resources available for investigating potential scams and fraudulent work at home offers. There is everything from the Better Business Bureau to thousands of independent websites exposing all types of scams.

Whenever you come across an opportunity that seems to be good to be true be sure to investigate it thoroughly. In most cases just a simple Google search will reveal enough information for you to make an educated decision about the validity of a work at home opportunity.