This may sound familiar. Make a 6 figure income by using nothing but your computer. Or get rich in the comfort of your own home. Advertisements such as these plague the Internet. The unfortunate thing is that millions of people take them seriously. Every year countless individuals take the plunge and part with their hard earned cash. Quite often the result is disappointment. There is good news however. You can find a computer business opportunity that is legitimate and that can make you money. They key to success is knowing how to spot the so called bad apples.

The first thing you need to know in spotting a fraudulent based business opportunity is beware of big promises. If it sounds too good to be true it probably is. If it were honestly easy to make a six figure salary, we would all be doing it. Promises of large amounts of cash for an easy life are just not going to happen.

Lets take an example. Some of the legitimate business opportunities available are Internet mail order services. Those that make a success out of these work nearly 24/7. If your company is promising you the opportunity to sleep in while the cash piles up then they are quite frankly not telling the truth. Orders will come in at all hours of the day and night.

Someone will have to be on hand to make sure it is filled and mailed. If their order is delayed due to the fact that you choose to have a lie in then your customer base is going to shrink incredibly fast. Likewise, when you run your own business either home based or not your days of sleeping in are long gone. In fact you will be working harder than you ever have until you are making enough profit to take on extra staff.

Another point you need to watch out for is testimonials and the so called documented proof that many of these advertisements contain. The truth is that anyone could have written these. Just because there is a photo with a persons name next to it does not make it true. All these testimonials and documented proof need is about 5 minutes on a computer.

Finally, any business opportunity that asks you to part with money should just be ignored. You should not have to pay for a job, it should be the other way around. Many talk themselves into doing it because the amounts are usually quite low. This is what con artists depend on. They know that most people can part with 20-30 dollars and are not going to pursue them for it.

Despite all of the negativity there are some wonderful business opportunities available. To get good advice the better business bureau and the US small business administration all offer excellent, free advice on how to start your own small business. They also offer great advice on spotting scams and what you can do if you become a victim.