Starting a Home Business is a great modern day employment option. It’s a growing choice for many these days that offers the possibility of making an income while in the convenience of your own home.
Unfortunately, scammers love to target people who work at home. Offering big cash returns with little work needed and no boss, etc. etc Promises like “Want to spend your work time with your children at home?” and “Would you like to save gas money, and work from home?” etc. etc. We have all seen these cheap sales scripts right?
Home Business start-up slog
But of course the truth is you need to be offering useful, valuable and in demand services and products for your home business to be successful. It cannot be understated, that for your home businesses to be a success, you need to meet customer expectations. So it goes without saying you need to be offering great quality products and services.
When you are starting out, it can be often hard to get customers on board. You may spend many extra hours and stay up late many nights trying to figure out where your next job is coming from. Trying out that latest marketing technique which will magically deliver a stack of leads into your lap. You may become tempted by some of these “quick success” programs.
Budget and Cash-flow issues
You may also find yourself needing to outlay money for equipment. Expensive items such as computers, Internet connections, promotional products, may be needed. You will be thinking about budgeting decisions and where the cash-flow is coming from. This may be overwhelming and if you don’t stay focused, you may be tempted to find easier ways, or start looking for short-cuts.
Falling for Home Businesses Scams
So you fell for it. Home Business Scams, when they hit you, it can hurt. Your pride, your confidence and self-esteem take a battering. You blame your self for being stupid. Ok, take a breath. You may feel powerless, but there are things you can, and need to do. The actions you take will depend on what type of scam you have been affected by, and how badly. Here is a general list for you.
8 Home Business Scams action items:
1. Notify Your Credit Card Company
If you contact your credit card company immediately and tell them as much as possible about the scam, there may be a good chance of getting your money back.
Report information about the scam:
- Any names you remember
- People who have contacted you
- Email addresses
- telephone numbers
If you report the incident immediately, the scammer may not have time to use your credit card.
2. Prevent Identity Theft
Act to avoid identity theft. Contact Social Security Admin and explain what has happened. Speak to the authorities about your drivers license to see what can be done.
3. Notify Others
Speak with any affiliated businesses or customers who you think may need to know, to keep them safe from the scam. Keeping quite might seem like a good idea to avoid an embarrassing situation. However, it may result in further problems if at any stage they are affected too.
4. Change Passwords
Change all your passwords, and choose different passwords for each account. The scammer will most likely try the password they got from you in as many different accounts as possible. They may use it to access your email, PayPal, online banking, and any other account they can think of.
5. Close Accounts
Depending on the nature of the scam and how bad it is, you may want to close your accounts and open new ones. This will ensure, you get new id numbers and usernames, that the scammer wont already know about. Also consider closing any accounts you don’t use anymore.
6. Virus Recovery
If the scammer gained access to your computer, then they probably installed some kind of virus, or key logger used for sending password information back to them. Use a virus checker software to scan for any Trojan Horses or other back door viruses that may be sending your information back to them without you knowing it. You may even need to re-install your operating system if the virus cant be remedied so easily.
7. Use LastPass
So by now you understand the importance of strong passwords, and never giving your passwords to someone you don’t trust. Also saving them in files on your computer or in your email account is a not a good idea. Instead, use a password management system such as Lastpass.com to manage all your online passwords.
8. Secure WordPress
Take steps to Secure you WordPress Installation before it get compromised. There are a range of basic things you can do, from choosing difficult passwords through to installing security plugins such as Wordfence for WordPress. Ensure nobody is trying to hack your site right now. Make sure your Blog is backed up and that you can recover from your site being compromised.
Getting hit by Home Business Scams is a debilitating experience, and may cause you untold stress and costs that you never expected. It is important to remember to try to keep calm during this time so as to keep your head about you and make the best choices possible to recover form your situation. To avoid these problems again, always do your research, educate your self with information from sites such as Scambusters.org
And remember, “if it sounds too good to be true. then it probably is”.
Peter Mead shares over 20 years experience in Digital and as an expert SEO Consultant. Peter draws further knowledge and experience from his involvement as a SEMrush Webinar host and a co-organizer of Melbourne SEO Meetup. Writing articles based on his hands-on analytical and strategic experience. Peter is passionate about contributing to client success and the improvement of the broader SEO community.
Peter can be found on some of these sites:
Hosting the SEMrush Australian Search Marketing Academy Webinar: https://www.semrush.com/user/145846945/
WordPress SEO Consultant: Peter Mead iT https://petermead.com/
Co-Organiser: Melbourne SEO Meetup https://www.meetup.com/Melbourne-SEO/
More information About Peter Mead