There are a lot of online data entry jobs out there on the Internet—sites that will pay you hourly or by the amount of data that you enter.  Some of these data entry jobs are great; you can do them from home and you are paid by the output you put into it.  Others, unfortunately, are scams that take your money and don’t give you anything appreciable back.

So how can you tell the difference between a legitimate data entry job and data entry cams?  First of all, avoid any job that claims to make you wealthy just by putting in a few hours a day doing data entry.  It’s tedious work and no one actually makes a lot of money doing it.  Avoid any job that makes you pay them money in order to work there.  They are probably just “selling” you a handbook on how to do data entry at home and aren’t offering you a job at all.

There are actually legitimate data entry programs such as that offered by Survey Scout.com and Freelance Work Exchange, although you have to pay in to be able to work for them.  Nevertheless, the work is legitimate and has at least been screened by someone other than yourself.

When looking for a scam, however, look for a company that seeks typists for data entry and offer you limitless amounts of income for entering data.  They almost always ask for a non-refundable fee to be paid by you that covers the package materials and instructions.  The information usually comes by email and asks you to copy the advertisement you already applied to and put it on another job board, waiting for some other poor schlep to pay you $20 for the materials and information you just got.

It’s impossible to get rich quickly doing data entry so don’t expect much, even from a legitimate job.  You may get the equivalent of minimum wage if you are a fast typist but it just might not pay off in the end.  If you’ve had to pay in to do this job, you have to take that money off the top before you earn any real income.  And you have to be diligent in doing the data entry or you won’t make any money at all, even with a legitimate data entry job.

Think about asking for references on any business you’re thinking about working for.  Ask for a list of other employees you can contact or other contractors the company uses.  Actually make contact with these references to see how the business is working out for them.  If you cannot get any references, consider moving on to another, more reputable business.

If any offer just sounds too good to be real, it probably is a scam.   Read everything in the advertisement and anything they send you by email very carefully.  Call up a lawyer if there is something you don’t understand.  Be wary and wait until you find a reputable business to work for.

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