One of the hardest parts about finding work from home opportunities is weeding out all the scams. Sadly, there are quite a few out there. However, if you learn how to do your due diligence, you will find real data entry gigs that aren’t scams.
Here are some tips to keep you from being scammed:
Do Your Due Diligence
When you see an offer, don’t assume it’s real. Anyone can lie about anything, including making fake links to fake companies. Always use caution and make sure the website is secure that you’re looking at. Always check out the company to ensure they’re being honest.
Don’t Pay Up Front
You don’t need to pay for jobs. You can pay for training, equipment, and all sorts of things to be a freelancer, but you don’t need to pay a fee for a job unless it’s giving a commission or percentage of sales.
Don’t Give Away Work for Free
A fake site will often ask you to take a “test,” which is doing free work. You want to be very careful about giving away free work disguised as tests of your ability. You can do those tests on sites like upwork.com to fill out your profile but don’t do them directly for a future client.
Research the Offering Company
Always take the time to find out which company is behind any offer. Do the research to find out if anyone complained. Ask in other freelancer groups online to find out what other experiences are.
Get a Contract ![contract]()
Always get a contract signed by the client and by you. This is your only protection against scope creep or doing unpaid work without any legal recourse.
Set Up Your Business Legally
To avoid having to give your personal information to platforms, payment processors, and more, you can form a legal business, obtain an employer identification number if you’re in the US, and use that for identifying your tax liabilities instead of your social security number. This can help prevent identity theft.
Don’t Trust Online Reviews
While we all like getting online reviews for our work, the problem with review sites is that sometimes companies pay others to post for them when it’s against the rules. Always take online reviews with a grain of salt. Talk to the person that gave the review in person to determine if they’re real or not.
List of Legitimate Data Entry Companies
Here is a list of some legitimate data entry companies that you can check out. There are dozens that you can find. The main thing is to check out each company before you sign up with them.
* AccuTranGlobal Transcription Specialist — http://www.accutranglobal.com/
* Axion Data Services — https://axiondata.com/
* Amazon Mechanical Turk — https://www.mturk.com/
* Capital Typing — https://www.capitaltyping.com/
* Kendall Creek Communications — https://www.kendallcreekcommunications.com
Remember to always check out any business before trusting them. The same rules still apply regardless of whether they’re listed here or not. Always follow the basic rules of doing business online, which is not to give out your personal information without researching the company and never pay for a job.
