Scam Alert

To some who has been working on freelance sites, here is a project which I believe was posted by a scammer on Freelancer.com.

“Hi,

I want someone to convert a pack of PDF files to word document. I want serious bidder. First you have to buy the pack. It is very confidential so I cannot give it to any one who is not serious.

The package cost is $10 (refundable).

You will get exactly 100 PDF files. The word count for each file is around 400. You have to manually type the contents of the PDF files in to word document and save the file name with exactly the same name used for the PDF files.

All the files are password protected. So you cannot use any software to complete the job (sorry for that). You have to manually do this.

You know well the maximum amount that I can pay. The time limit is 25 days.

After you buy the pack you have complete the job in 25 days. Don’t worry I will pay back $10 that you have used to buy the pack.

Happy bidding.”

By just reading the description of the work, it sounds as if the scammer is trying to trick the bidders to pay him $10, which I doubt is refundable and I don’t even think the bidders would get the package of 100 PDF files after paying the $10.

Of course there is a way to remove password protection from PDF files, even if the password has been lost. And even if anyone who really needs something typed out, then he should deliver the material free to the successful bidder. Asking bidders to buy the package, even with the promise of refunding it definitely sounds like a scam to me.

Please be advised not to bid for any job that requires payment.  The project creator should be paying the freelancers and not taking money from them. You can get jobs online without spending any money.

So, the next time you look for work on freelance sites, please be more alert as I’m sure you do not want to be a victim of scams.

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- Scams - Never Pay For Doing A Job

- Be Safe When Making Money Online

Scams - Never Pay For Doing A Job

So you’re looking for an online job and you came across one that says you can earn $500 a month by just doing a simple data entry job. But in order to qualify for that job, you need to buy a starter kit which costs you only $50 in order to start the job. If you buy now, it will cost you only $19.95 which means you get to save $30.05. Wow, isn’t that a good offer? So, are you prepared to buy the starter kit and start work immediately?

Okay, let’s just think about this for a moment.

• First of all, why should you need a starter kit for just doing a simple data entry job?
• Secondly, if you’re looking for a job, which means that you want to earn some money, why should you be paying a company to work for that company? Obviously they should be the one paying you instead.

Isn’t it obvious that they want to make some money out of you first? How well do you know the company? What’s the guarantee that you would get the job after buying the kit?

So my point is, in order to stay safe while earning an online income from home:-

1. Do a research first to check out whether the site/company is legitimate;
2. Never disclose your personal information;
3. Do not pay any fees for doing a job.

The easiest way to spot a scam is when the website asks you to make some payment to get a starter kit in order to start working for them. Many desperate-for-money people fall victims to scams these days. I hope that you will not be one of them!


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Why You Should Avoid CAPTCHA-Entry-Jobs?

Working and landing on a job as a freelancer is always not easy for new service providers. That is why many new freelancers who are looking for online data-entry-jobs tend to fall into the trap of doing CAPTCHA-entry-jobs.

Here are 5 reasons why you should avoid doing CAPTCHA-entry-jobs:

1.         All CAPTCHA-entry-jobs involve spamming work and spamming is a crime and we should all condone to this act.

2.         Since CAPTCHA is an anti-spam device, if you carry out CAPTCHA-entry-jobs, you are indirectly abetting spammers. You probably might not even realize that you are helping in promoting scams and frauds.

3.         The remuneration for CAPTCHA-entry-jobs is way too low. You will only make a few cents for doing this kind of work for several hours. Most employers will only pay close to $1 for 1,000 entries. It’s almost like working for free.

4.         Since the buyers who posted the CAPTCHA-entry-projects are likely to be scammers, it is more likely that they may not even pay you for the data entry services you provide.

5.         Many service providers who have done CAPTCHA-entry-jobs have been cheated by the buyers. The buyers will just vanish after the spam work is complete and the service providers in the end get no money and no rating.

So, if you are a new service provider in any freelance sites looking for opportunities to work from home, I would suggest not to waste time and energy in doing such a low-pay and unethical work-at-home jobs like CAPTCHA-entry-jobs.

You might also be interested in: What is CAPTCHA?

What Is CAPTCHA?

The word CAPTCHA stands for” Completely Automated Public Turing Test To Tell Computers And Humans Apart”.  It is a program used to verify that a human is entering the data and not a computer. You probably have seen such tests when signing up for an account on any websites. It has a distorted image which contains an alphanumeric code that can normally be read and interpreted by a human and it’s a test whereby most people can easily pass which a computer program cannot.

The idea of such code is to prevent spammers from using web bots to automatically create email accounts or sign up for websites or submit comments or guestbook entries on blogs or forums with spam messages.

What are CAPTCHA jobs?

Assuming that someone wants to create 1000 Gmail accounts. This will be an abuse as Gmail does not allow its users to create such a huge number of Gmail accounts which they can then sell online to other spammers who will then use them to send out spam emails to different people.

The spammers have a tool designed to automatically fill up random information on the email account form/fields. But with the CAPTCHA protection ON, their tools cannot go through the registration process unless someone manually enters the distorted alphanumeric CAPTCHA image.

This is when these spammers need the help of an individual person to perform the job for them. So they will post projects under the data-entry category and target on the new service providers to work for them.

The users are then given a software/tool which they need to run on their PC whereby this tool runs its spam work in the background and then asks the users to enter the required CAPTCHA code into a box, which is then returned to the spammers.

Conclusion

Working on CAPTCHA-entry-jobs is more like engaging in a criminal activity on behalf of a CAPTCHA breaking sites. All these sites that pay you to enter a large number of CAPTCHA codes are usually run by hackers. And by doing this kind of work you could be hacking your own email or social networking account.

You might also be interested in: Why you should avoid CAPTCHA entry jobs?

Be Safe When Making Money Online

It is wise to be safe online when looking for a job. There are many online programs that let you earn an income online and there are some that takes your income away from you.

Here are some of the common ways that may cause you to lose money while working online:

1.         Scam sites

            “Home typing jobs”, “Home typing opportunity” or “Legitimate work-at-home opportunity” … you will see these advertisements many times while surfing the internet claiming that you can earn up to $500 a day doing home typing jobs. They will ask you to fill up a form and send it to them along with a registration fee. In a few days time, you will receive a starter pack with information containing a long list of companies that may be looking for a work-at-home typist. A job that promises to provide you with a steady and stable income with easy-to-do jobs that only requires a few hours of your time is most likely a scam.

2.         Not getting paid for work done

            Your employer doesn’t pay you after you have submitted your completed project to him. This will be a great disappointment to you as you have already poured out all your effort and time in completing the project and waiting to get paid. So, the next time you work on a freelancer site, make sure that your employer pays you in escrow before you start on a project.

3.         Big promises

            Some sites will make big promises to you but these sites are the ones which are likely to make you lose a lot of money.  Even if you did not lose your money, you have already lost so much of your time because it did not return what is promised to you after completion of your work. Never believe sites that make big promises. Most of these sites will usually ask you to pay a certain amount of money in order to start work.

You should try your best to avoid such sites and avoid getting scammed by others. If you are able to avoid these scam sites, then you will likely save a great deal of money and probably use your precious time to make money elsewhere.

You might also be interested in: Scams - Never Pay For Doing A Job