On Your Own

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2. In return for a fee of varying amounts, you are offered some kind of home employment. You send the money, you sit by the mail box, you get an invitation to a costume party, a heartfelt letter from Time magazine about the end of your subscription, three valentines, and a phone bill—but no home employment. After a while you forget about the whole thing, which is just what the advertiser thought would happen. He, meanwhile, has moved to Palm Beach with the secret of making easy money.

3. You are told you can make piles of cash at home by breeding chinchillas or producing widgets on a special machine (which they'll gladly sell you for a mere few hundred dollars). The advertiser often implies that he will buy what you make or at least find another sucker who will. But when selling time rolls around, you find that the bottom has dropped out of the chinchilla market in your neighborhood. Sometimes the ad will specify "no selling". This means that the advertiser will buy your product (which you already have paid them to teach you how to make or breed or whatever). The catch is that in order for them to buy your crocheted bread box it has to be up to their standards. And nothing ever is.

4. "Publish your book (or poem or song) and become famous." You guessed it—the only profit in this deal is made by the promoters, who charge you for telling you that your stuff is terrific. What you, famous writer (poet, songster), wind up with is a huge bill and a flattering critique of your work and some printed copies of your book (poem, song) so you can prove your fame to relatives, neighbors, and passers-by. Meanwhile, the folks back at the phony publishers are humming your tune while they zip up their thigh-high suede boots and ride off in their white Cadillacs. By the way, legitimate "vanity publishers" identify themselves as such and will print your work for a set price, with no promises of fame and fortune. These people are driving VWs.

How an advertiser will tip you off to a fraud:

he'll require money for instructions or merchandise before telling you how the plan operates he'll promise you huge, incredible amounts of money he'll never offer you regular salaried employment he'll insist that experience or special skills are completely unnecessary he'll assure you that there is a large guaranteed market for your works

If you suspect an ad is fraudulent, or even if you have no suspicions but want to be cautious before responding to a work-at-home ad, do the following before you send any money: Check with postal inspectors, the local Better Business Bureau, the state labor department, and any consumer protection agencies you can think of. All of these agencies serve as watchdogs against consumer fraud and will have on file any complaints lodged against specific advertisers. They will be able to advise you on the particular ad you want to answer.

Even if you do get taken, help other unwary people who might fall into the same trap, and:

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