Military spouses: Want to add to the family finances? Looking for a job in a tough market can be very frustrating. So how about an offer to work at home? Sounds good, right? But you need to know that many legitimate-sounding work-at-home offers are scams that will leave you poorer than you were when you started, so it’s important to check with BBB before signing on the dotted line. Here are just two of the latest ripoffs that BBB has been receiving complaints about from all over the country.
Angel Stevens Process at Home. BBB Rating: F
BBB serving Austin has received 76 complaints on this work-at-home company in the last 12 months. The complaints have come from 29 states and Canada. Consumers say that they were led to believe that they would be processing rebates for 11,000+ companies such as Home Depot and Hewlett Packard. Instead, they ended up participating in an affiliate marketing program, which means they had to post ads on the Internet at their own expense for various products, try to sell the products and offer/process rebates on them.
Those who signed up to work for Angel Stevens Process at Home had to pay $197 up front for training materials. Some say they were urged to pay an additional $4,000-$12,000 to “properly set up their business” by starting an online store that utilized drop shipping. Those who stuck with the program complain that the company sent incomplete or incorrect training materials and did not provide the promised support. They also complain that they didn’t make any profit on the items they sold. And some say that they have been double-billed or have had other unauthorized charges to their credit cards. And, oh, by the way, the company is allegedly not honoring their 90-day money-back guarantee.
Click here for the BBB|Austin news release on Angel Stevens Process at Home.
Market Reader Pro. A Secret Shopper Scam Using the Name of a Legitimate BBB Accredited Business.
BBB serving Spokane warns of a secret shopper scam using the names of two legitimate BBB Accredited Businesses. In this case the scammers send a mailing supposedly from Market Reader Pro, a BBB Accredited Business in Fogelsville, PA. One of the letters, forwarded to BBB|Spokane by a cautious consumer, contains a check for $3,985 drawn on a program “sponsor,” another BBB Accredited Business, Galaxy Electronics of Richardson, TX. The would-be mystery shopper is directed to cash the check and then evaluate the services of Western Union or Moneygram by wiring $3,400 to one of five individuals listed in the letter. The remaining $485 is to be used for a salary ($300) and other mystery shopper purchases in local stores.
The scam becomes apparent a few weeks later when the victim receives notice from his or her bank that the check was fraudulent. The victim then owes the bank $3,985 - plus bad-check fees – and has no prospect of getting back the money that was wired.
The moral of this story is that scam artists will sometimes use legitimate companies’ names and addresses as a front for their scamming activities. Smart consumers need to be able to recognize the scam, whatever the name. If someone you don’t know sends you a check for a large sum of money, it’s almost certainly a scam, and you should not cash or use the check.
Click here for the BBB|Spokane news release on this particular mystery shopping scam.
For information on legitimate mystery shopper offers, check out the Web site of the Mystery Shopping Providers Association, www.mysteryshop.org. Click on their “Consumer Warning” press release for tips about how to recognize a mystery shopping scam.
