Legit work from home jobs vs scams: a checklist

A legit work from home job pays you to do real work for a business you can verify, with a written agreement and a proper hiring process. A scam asks you to pay first, moves money or parcels through you, or pays you for “tasks” that never lead anywhere. In Australia and the US the rule of thumb is the same: if money is flowing from you to the “employer”, stop and check before you do anything else.

Use this checklist on any work from home offer, including the one you saw in a Facebook group at 11pm after the kids went down.

The 10-point checklist: green flag or red flag?

Check	Green flag (likely legit)	Red flag (likely scam)
1. How they found you	You applied through a job board, company careers page or a recruiter you can look up.	An unexpected text, WhatsApp or Telegram message offering work you never applied for.
2. Who the business is	A real business name you can find on a government register, with a website, address and real customers.	No registered name, a brand-new website, or a copy of a well-known company’s name.
3. Money direction	They pay you. You never pay to start.	A fee for training, a starter kit, “activation”, equipment or to unlock your earnings.
4. The interview	A real conversation (video or phone) with a named person who asks about your skills.	“Hired” by chat in ten minutes with no interview at all.
5. The job description	Clear duties, hours and who you report to.	Vague “online work”, “liking videos” or “rating products” with no specifics.
6. Pay terms	Written rate, commission structure and payment dates.	Promises of big daily income for simple tasks.
7. Cheques and parcels	Equipment is shipped or paid for directly by the company.	A cheque to deposit so you can buy equipment or send part back, or parcels to re-post.
8. Personal details	Tax and bank details collected after a written offer, through proper onboarding.	Passport, licence or bank login requested before any offer.
9. Payment method	Normal payroll or invoices.	Crypto, gift cards, PayID or transfers to a personal account.
10. Pressure	Time to read the agreement and ask questions.	Urgency: “spots are filling”, “pay today or lose your earnings”.

One red flag doesn’t always mean scam, but red flags 3, 7 and 9 on their own are enough to walk away. The US Federal Trade Commission puts it plainly in its job scams advice: don’t pay for the promise of a job, never bank on a “cleared” cheque, and reshipping goods is never a real job.

How big is the problem?

Big enough that you shouldn’t feel silly for checking. In the US, the FTC reported that job scam losses topped $220 million in just the first six months of 2024, and about 20,000 people reported task scams in that half year, compared to about 5,000 in all of 2023. In Australia, the National Anti-Scam Centre says Scamwatch received more than 3,000 reports of job scams in 2024, with reported losses of $13.7 million, and that average losses to job scams were 5.1 per cent higher than for other scam types. Both agencies note that many scams are never reported, so the real numbers are likely higher.

The common work from home scams, explained

Task scams (“like and review” jobs)

This is the fastest-growing one. It starts with a friendly message offering flexible online work. You’re given an app where you “optimise” products, like videos or rate items, and a dashboard shows your earnings ticking up. An early small payout builds trust. Then you hit a “combination task” or “upgrade level” and you’re told to deposit your own money, often in crypto, to unlock what you’ve earned. The FTC describes exactly this pattern and warns that if you deposit money, you won’t get it back. Real jobs never ask you to pay to receive your pay.

Fake cheque and equipment purchase scams

You land a “remote admin” or “customer support” role, often after a chat-only interview. They send you a cheque (or a transfer) to buy your laptop and software from their “approved vendor”. You deposit it, pay the vendor, and days later the cheque bounces. The vendor was the scammer, and your bank expects you to cover the full amount. A real employer ships you equipment or reimburses receipts after you’ve bought it through normal channels.

Reshipping and package forwarding

Often sold as “quality control” or “logistics” work: you receive parcels, repackage them and post them on, usually overseas. The goods are often bought with stolen cards, leaving you tangled up in fraud and unpaid.

Pay-to-join “training” or starter kits

The job sounds great, but first you need a starter kit, a certification only they offer, or “onboarding software”. Here’s the distinction worth holding onto: choosing to pay for a course to learn a skill is a separate, open decision you make as a customer. An employer charging you to take a job is a red flag. If the role disappears the moment you ask to skip the paid bit, you have your answer.

MLM and recruit-to-earn schemes

I’ll be honest: my own first taste of sales was in network marketing back in 2014, so I know how appealing these can look when you want to work around kids. Not every MLM is an illegal pyramid scheme, but the FTC’s guidance on multi-level marketing and pyramid schemes is a good filter: if your income would be based mostly on how many people you recruit, not how much product you sell to real customers, that’s a pyramid scheme. Watch for big promises about earning potential, pressure to buy inventory, and “build your team” as the main pitch.

Data entry and envelope stuffing

The classic: pay a small fee for a list of “companies who need data entry” or an envelope kit, and you get nothing, or instructions to place the same ad yourself. Real data entry jobs are hired like any other job.

Fake recruiters on WhatsApp and Telegram

Scammers impersonate real recruitment agencies and even government departments. Australia’s National Anti-Scam Centre has flagged scammers impersonating government employers and healthcare providers in fake job ads. The tell: the “recruiter” moves you off the job platform into a private chat fast, won’t do a video call, and their email address doesn’t match the company’s domain.

How to verify a company in Australia and the US

Step	Australia	United States
Business register	Search the ABN or business name on ABN Lookup. Check it’s active and the name matches.	Search the Secretary of State business registry in the state where the company says it’s based.
Reputation	Search the business name plus “scam” or “reviews”, and check Scamwatch alerts.	Check the Better Business Bureau (BBB) profile and complaint history.
People	Find the hiring manager on LinkedIn. Is the profile old, connected to real colleagues, and listed at that company?	Same: check LinkedIn, and match the recruiter’s email domain to the company website.
Contact	Call the company on a number you found yourself, not the one in the message, and ask if the role exists.	Same. Scammers count on you not checking independently.
Interview	Insist on a real video or phone interview before sharing ID or bank details.	Same, and never accept an offer made only by text chat.

What to do if you’ve been scammed

First, breathe. Scammers are professionals and smart people get caught. Then act quickly.

1. Call your bank or card provider straight away and ask them to stop or reverse payments. Speed matters, especially for transfers.
2. Stop contact with the scammer and don’t send more money, even if they promise it unlocks a refund. “Recovery” offers are often a second scam.
3. Report it. In Australia, report to Scamwatch (scamwatch.gov.au) and, if it happened online and you lost money or data, to ReportCyber. If you shared ID documents, call IDCARE on 1800 595 160, the number the National Anti-Scam Centre gives. In the US, report to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at ic3.gov. You can also contact your state attorney general.
4. Secure your identity: change passwords, turn on two-factor login, and watch your credit file.

How legit remote sales roles compare

Remote sales (appointment setting and closing) is one of the work from home paths I know best, so here’s how a real role stacks up against the checklist. A legitimate business hires you to talk with people interested in a real product or service, after an interview (often with a role play), on a written agreement. The business pays you; you don’t pay them to take the role.

What’s honest to say: many remote sales roles are commission-heavy or commission-only, which means your pay depends on results, and results take time to build. My own first month in remote sales in 2020 brought in $440. That’s my result, not a typical one. A legit employer is upfront about commission rates, lead flow and pay dates. If they dodge those questions, that’s a red flag. The difference from a recruit-to-earn scheme is simple: you earn from selling to real customers, not from signing up friends.

For the bigger picture, start with what remote sales is, read up on appointment setter jobs from home, or browse more work from home jobs for mums. And because you should check us too, we wrote an open answer to whether She Sells is legit. She Sells trains women in remote sales skills and then helps them get hired; you can see how on our programs page or in the FAQ.

Frequently asked questions

Is it normal to pay for training before starting a work from home job?

No. A genuine employer doesn’t charge you to take a job, and the FTC says not to pay for the promise of one. Paying for an independent course to build a skill is a separate choice, but if a “job” only exists once you’ve paid the employer, treat it as a scam.

Are task scams the same as real online survey or review jobs?

No. Task scams show fake earnings in an app and then ask you to deposit money to unlock them. Real survey or testing platforms never ask for a deposit to pay you.

How can I check if a recruiter on WhatsApp is real?

Look the person up on LinkedIn, check their email domain matches the company, and call the company on a number you found yourself. Real recruiters will do a video call and send a written offer.

Can I get my money back after a job scam?

Sometimes, if you act fast. Contact your bank immediately, then report to Scamwatch and ReportCyber in Australia or ReportFraud.ftc.gov and IC3 in the US. Crypto and gift card payments are rarely recovered.

Is MLM a legit way to work from home?

Some MLMs are legal businesses, but many people earn little after costs. The FTC warns that if your income would come mostly from recruiting rather than selling to real customers, it’s a pyramid scheme, so look closely at where the money really comes from.

Results vary. Nothing here is a promise of income. See our earnings disclaimer.

Keep reading

• Making a real income from home as a single mum
• Is a remote sales certification worth it?
• What is remote sales? The job explained (AU & US)
• How to get into sales with no experience