There are many work at home scams today, but one of the most common scam is envelope stuffing . You can go to any search engine and do a search on envelope stuffing work at home jobs , and see they all are ran the same way.

Here's how it works: The most common scam offers to pay $3 or $4 per envelope you address or stuff. They ask that you send [to cover the cost of shipping and handling/registration fees] $30, and they promise to send you a list of companies that want to pay you to stuff envelopes for them.

THE SCAM_ Most envelope stuffing con games are the same way: You pay your "registration fee" [usually $30 ,pure profit for the scam artist] . They will then send you a copy of the ad that you orginally responded to, along with the wording to a classified ad, telling people about how much money they can make stuffing envelopes, and to send a self-addressed-stamped-envelope for more information. When you receive [if you ever do] someone's S A S E, you send them a copy of the ad. There, you have stuffed your first envelope.

THE COLD HARD TRUTH _joining an envelope stuffing program is a bad idea. Think of it this way: Why would anyone pay someone to stuff envelopes, when you can get an envelope stuffing for a few hundred dollars? They wouldn't So many people send off their hard earned money for the "registration fee" in hopes of earning hundreds of dollars a week stuffing envelopes, only to be another victim of this scam.

So you can see, that joining an envelope stuffing program is a bad idea. Save the money you'd send in for the registration fee, and put it towards a legitimate home-based business, and you'll be happier and more successful. But, before joining any work at home based business, you should

Better Business Bureau http://www.bbb.org/

If you are one of the ones that have fallen for this scam, there are steps you can take to put these scam artist out of business for good: Here is the first thing you should do, I think you should ask them to refund your money and if they refuse let them know that you will report them as SCAM at FTC. To file a complaint visit https://rn.ftc.gov/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01 or to get free information on consumer issues, visit www.ftc.gov http://www.ftc.gov http://www.ftc.gov or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261

Here are some resources for getting help, or to stop scammers:

United States Postal Inspection Service

This site has information about envelope stuffing scams, as well as other home-based business scams.

http://www.elsop.com/wrc/complain.htm

Better Business Bureau http://www.bbb.org/

This site you can research a company before joining, or to file a complaint.

Tina Barraclough is a stay at home mom and owner of http://best-home-based-business-idea.com Visit her website for Business Opportunities, free e-books,Business Articles,etc.

tinabarr4@msn.com