It’s fairly astonishing that scammers are nonetheless selling stuffing envelopes as a legit earn a living from home job.
I can inform you firsthand that stuffing envelopes for money is a rip-off.
How do I do know? A very long time in the past, I fell sufferer to the rip-off of stuffing envelopes.
You see, after I was in school, I labored part-time ready tables. Nonetheless, regardless that I made good cash, between my class schedule and learning, I might solely work just a few shifts per week. So, you may think about my pleasure when I discovered a flyer on a bulletin board at college promoting envelope stuffer jobs.
The flyer claimed I might make $2.00 per envelope, all whereas working from the consolation of my residence.
I instantly began calculating what number of envelopes I might stuff in between lessons and the way a lot more money I’d make per week; my life was going to be a lot simpler!
The flyer instructed me to ship them a $12.00 upfront price for the knowledge on easy methods to get began. I used to be so excited concerning the alternative that I ignored the purple flags, like sending the fee to an nameless P.O. Field or the exceeding excessive pay charges for entry-level work.
I waited for weeks for the knowledge to reach. When it lastly did, I anxiously ripped open the envelope to be taught that this so-called envelope-stuffing job was a pyramid rip-off.
The letter instructed me to advertise the identical rip-off that I had simply fallen for by putting a need advert for envelope stuffers. Then, when folks reply to your advert, ship them the identical bogus data on easy methods to replicate the rip-off.
I used to be so disillusioned.
This was not a job. It was unethical data on easy methods to rip-off folks out of cash. Fortunately, I solely misplaced $12.00.
Is the Stuffing Envelopes Rip-off Nonetheless Round Right this moment?
Sadly, I nonetheless see scams associated to stuffing envelopes on the web and varied social media websites, besides the associated fee for this bogus data is often $50-$150! This previous yr, the rip-off has advanced into the “letter writing” aspect hustle, the place you may supposedly earn $5 for every handwritten letter you write to companies.
With this letter-writing scheme, they entice folks with large earnings for little to no work, however to get the knowledge on how to do that, you should buy a dear course. The knowledge then particulars easy methods to write handwritten letters to casinos to earn as much as $5 in on line casino credit. The credit that you simply earn are usually not money; they’re credit that it’s important to use to gamble on-line, and everyone knows playing shouldn’t be a dependable method to earn cash.
So why are so many individuals on social media selling this letter-writing gig as a reputable alternative? As a result of they’re associates for the course, they usually earn cash every time, somebody purchases the course from them. It’s identical to the rip-off of stuffing envelopes, so don’t fall for this fraud!
In Tory Johnson’s guide, “Will Work from Residence,” she exams these faux on-line jobs with just a few totally different corporations, and none of them ever panned out. In her guide, she says: “Recruiting folks to stuff envelopes is the oldest earn a living from home gimmick that fools folks on daily basis. Don’t be one among them”.
Each the Federal Commerce Fee (FTC) and the Higher Enterprise Bureau (BBB) have alerts on their web sites warning folks of this rip-off. The truth is, the United States Postal Service (USPS) says that stuffing envelopes is the commonest work from home rip-off (the opposite is packing scams).
And if you consider it, why would an organization that wants envelopes stuffed use a person for this job after they can use a machine that folds, inserts, and seals 1,320 envelopes in a single hour? There isn’t a approach a human can work that quick, and no firm can pay excessive {dollars} for this unskilled job.
Are There Any Professional Envelope-Stuffing Jobs?
Sometimes, on websites like LinkedIn, Monster, Glassdoor, and Certainly, you’ll run into an advert for a legit envelope stuffer job. Nonetheless, it’s often an unpaid volunteer place the place you go into an workplace and assist a charity stuff envelopes for his or her fundraiser. Different occasions, you’ll see in-person job openings for receptionists, knowledge entry and mailroom clerks, and customer support representatives, the place stuffing envelopes is a small a part of their job duties. And these positions often pay $13-$20 per hour, not $2-$10 per envelope!
Typically, you’re not going to seek out earn a living from home jobs the place you’ll stuff envelopes as a part of your job duties, as sending large quantities of letters, envelopes, and postage stamps to a employee’s residence can be cost-prohibitive to the employer.
What Ought to You Do if You’ve Fallen for This Rip-off?
In case you’ve fallen for this rip-off, contact your financial institution or bank card firm and have them challenge a cease fee order. If the cash is already gone, you may attempt contacting the corporate from which you bought the knowledge and request a refund. You’ll want to inform them that if they don’t refund your cash, you’ll contact officers to research their operations additional.
In case you can’t resolve the scenario, contact the FTC (1-877-FTC-HELP) to report the difficulty. You can too contact your native US Postal Inspection Service. Since these scammers are utilizing P.O. Bins to run their rip-off operations, they may examine these fraudulent mail practices.
What to Watch Out for When Trying to find Work at Residence Jobs
While you’re trying to find work from home jobs, that you must take your time and analysis the job alternative extensively!
Scammers know they will make a fast and straightforward buck by preying on folks’s vulnerabilities. What I imply by vulnerabilities is when folks wrestle to make ends meet, or they should be at residence for a brand new child or aged father or mother, there’s a sense of urgency and desperation, and these scammers know this. So, they create their faux job listings to enchantment to those feelings.
The second cause scams are so prevalent is know-how has made it simpler than ever to distribute scams whereas hiding behind a digital curtain.
For these causes, it’s extra necessary than ever so that you can educate your self on what’s legit and what’s not.
Listed here are some purple flags job seekers must be careful for:
- Unfavorable evaluations and complaints on-line.
- No contact data (bodily tackle, telephone quantity, or electronic mail tackle) — scammers don’t wish to be discovered.
- Obscure job descriptions.
- Massive cash claims with little or no effort in your half.
- Strain to behave shortly.
- Unsolicited job presents.
- Poor spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
- Interviews by way of messaging apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, Sign, and Messenger.
- Imposter scams – faux corporations posing as actual corporations utilizing free electronic mail addresses like Gmail, Yahoo, iCloud, and Hotmail.
- If it sounds too good to be true, it in all probability is.
Actual-Life Work From Residence Jobs to Discover
In case you’re an aspiring envelope stuffer, you’re probably disillusioned that stuffing envelopes isn’t legit. Nonetheless, there are various different reputable earn a living from home jobs value exploring.
1. Information Entry Clerk
Changing into a distant knowledge entry operator is perhaps your calling if you happen to’re a quick and correct typist with glorious written communication abilities. You’ll confirm and enter knowledge into spreadsheets and on-line databases in these roles. You may additionally be assigned different clerical duties like answering emails and on-line analysis.
To search out reputable corporations with distant job listings, try:
2. Graphic Designer
In case you’re expert at utilizing packages like Adobe Photoshop or Canva, you may create objects like logos, gross sales letters, enterprise playing cards, labels, printables, and different promotional supplies. As a graphic designer, you are able to do freelance work on a project-by-project foundation or apply for full-time jobs. Based on the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the common hourly charge for a graphic designer is $31.11 per hour.
Try these on-line job boards for graphic design jobs:
3. On-line Tutor
If in case you have experience in a topic like math, English, biology, or nursing, you may be capable of make more money tutoring college students on-line. There are tons of on-line platforms that join college students to academics in all kinds of topics. Tutoring gigs are likely to have versatile work hours, and most gigs are unbiased contracting roles. To begin working as a tutor, you should show your experience by taking a preliminary examination or submitting the suitable documentation.
Yow will discover on-line tutoring jobs at:
4. Transcriptionist
Transcribers hearken to audio recordsdata and transcribe (kind) them into written paperwork. Transcription jobs are typically unbiased contracting positions and require fast and correct typing abilities, glorious listening abilities, and a strong grasp of the English language. The good factor about these positions is they provide versatile scheduling, and you may often tackle as a lot or as little as you may deal with.
Yow will discover on-line transcription jobs at:
5. Digital Assistant Jobs
Digital assistants, VA for brief, are expert professionals who deal with all kinds of administrative duties based mostly on the consumer’s wants. Duties could embody scheduling, calendar upkeep, knowledge entry, writing, enhancing, reserving journey, advertising, and extra. Digital assistants should be detail-oriented, have glorious communication abilities, and be glorious time handlers.
If this feels like a dream job, try:
6. Methods to Make Additional Money
If you wish to make just a little cash in your spare time, think about brief job gigs, the place you may work on initiatives like AI coaching, translation, inventive writing, paid surveys, search engine analysis, and extra!
For 1099 corporations to discover, try:
Professional Alternate options to Stuffing Envelopes
In case you’re nonetheless feeling uneasy about your work from home job search—try the paid membership web site FlexJobs. Each single job listed on their web site is hand-screened for legitimacy. So, once you apply, you may relaxation assured that you simply received’t fall prey to a earn a living from home rip-off. Not solely does FlexJobs have an A+ ranking with the Higher Enterprise Bureau, however in addition they provide a money-back assure if you happen to’re not happy.
Need extra legit earn a living from home job leads? Join my free publication, the place I ship out new vetted distant job leads twice every week.
Have you ever encountered the stuffing envelopes rip-off? What different fraudulent alternatives have you ever come throughout?
Initially printed on March 31, 2009. Content material up to date December 2024.
