In theory starting a work-at-home business can give you the flexibility to set your own hours and be your own boss.
But when you search online or get ads by email, you’ll often find scammers instead of a real opportunity.
Take, for example, Effen Ads. The FTC says this company tricked more than 50,000 people into paying for fake work-at-home opportunities.
According to the FTC’s complaint, the company ran ads with made-up news stories and fake celebrity endorsements. Those ads promised people they could make easy money by posting advertising links on websites. The catch? First, people had to pay $97 in upfront fees. Then, Effen gave people basic online training materials — but no money-making links, the FTC says.
Now the operators of this work-from-home scheme and the CEO of their main affiliate marketing network will pay nearly $1.5 million to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that they used misleading spam emails to lure consumers into buying work-from-home services.
In its complaint, the FTC alleges that Nevada-based Effen Ads, LLC and its owners, Jason Brailow and Brandon Harshbarger, worked with an affiliate marketing network called W4 LLC to promote a work-from-home scheme by sending bulk unsolicited email, or spam, to consumers, which generated more than 50,000 sales of the Effen Ads program.
“Effen Ads used phony celebrity endorsements, made-up news reports, and spam email from fake senders to push a work-from-home scheme,” said Andrew Smith, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Consumers should be on alert for scams promising lots of income for little or no effort—if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
The emails linked to websites displaying fake news stories and false celebrity endorsements that were previewed in the spam emails, according to the complaint. Consumers who clicked on the links in these fake online news stories were then routed to Effen Ads’ sales websites, which pitched the company’s work-from-home schemes. The schemes typically cost $97 and operated under numerous brand names such as Secure Home Profits, Paydays At Home, Home Cashflow Club, Home Cash Code, Home Payday Center, Snap Web Profits, Complete Profit Code, Global Cashflow Center, Global Payday System, Your Income Gateway, Home Payday Club, Web Payday Center, and Home Payday Vault.
In Effen’s case, some people lost tens of thousands of dollars after Effen Ads allegedly sold their information to telemarketing companies. Which then convinced people to buy bogus business coaching and other services, according to the FTC’s complaint.
One of the third-party telemarketers who bought consumer contact information from Effen Ads reached a settlement in 2018 with the FTC.
The FTC’s complaint alleges that Effen Ads perpetuated the scheme by using shell companies and straw owners to obtain merchant accounts used to process consumer credit card payments. This improper practice, known as credit card laundering, helps unscrupulous merchants evade merchant monitoring programs by the credit card associations.
The settlements with Harshbarger, Brailow, and Effen Ads impose an $11.3 million judgment, which will be suspended upon payment of $25,000 by Harshbarger and $121,948 by Brailow because of their inability to pay the full amount. In addition, they are permanently banned from marketing or selling business opportunities or business coaching products and are prohibited from making any misrepresentations in the marketing or sale of any product or service. Harshbarger, Brailow, and Effen Ads are also permanently prohibited from violating the CAN-SPAM Act and engaging in credit card laundering.
If you want to start a business from home, first research the company’s name online with the words “complaint,” “scam,” or “review.” Here are tips for spotting and stopping potential work-at-home scams:
- Nobody can guarantee that you’ll make money.
- Promises to make quick and easy money are always lies.
- Stop whenever someone pressures you to buy. That’s a very strong sign of a scam.
Despite the FTC’s best efforts, Work-at-Home scams are unfortunately on the rise and Scam Report’s recent documentary on the subject highlights a number of the most common scams currently hitting innocent Americans.
As in everything where money or promise of money is involved – it’s essential you carry out basic due diligence before parting with cash. Scam Report’s Trusted Directory lists a number of vetted and tested companies in both the work-at-home and business opportunity markets.
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