Here's the good news, there are several things that you can do to make sure that you don't end up beings scammed out of your hard work or money.

1. Do your research.

If you are offered a paying position or even a temporary job by someone online, do a search on their name or email address and see if anything fishy comes up. Try to deal with people who have good reputations, or at the very least who don't have bad reputations. You should try to avoid people who send you emails from a free email accounts, unless they include a lot of business information that you can check and verify. Remember that you should always be on the look out for potential scammers, and this includes in the job market.

2. Ask Questions.

Try to ask as many questions of the person who is hiring you before you begin work. Make sure there is a work contract that you can sign and keep for your own records, so that you will have written proof if anything goes wrong or if you do work that you aren't paid for. The more information you are getting on the person who is offering you work, the better chance you have of staying clear of scammers, because often scammers will not give you very much information.

3. Keep Records.

It goes without saying that you need to keep track of your own work, and everything you are doing. Track what you have done and how much you need to be paid for it. Be sure to keep track of when that payment has been received. And, if you can, try to keep records of all of the communications that you have with the people who are recruiting you to work. Make sure that they are always answering your questions.

4. Trust Your Instincts.

Feel out a person before you take work for them. Make sure that you are able to trust this person, and that they have given you enough information so that you feel they are trustworthy. You should be able to know if you can really trust someone or not by the time you begin to work with them. Avoid the places and the people who you simply don't trust. If you don't trust someone, you shouldn't take work from that person. That is just a good rule of thumb to keep in mind. Don't work for those that you do not trust, and this should go for all types of work, whether it is from home or not.

There are lots of good opportunities out there for entrepreneurs. You need to go into them with your eyes open and your radar on. There is a rule of thumb that always works: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Do you homework and you will find success not scams.