Friday, August 20, 2010

Reader Inquiry: Is it a Scam?

I received the following e-mail this week:


A business advertised on Craigslist for $495.00 for materials to start a home inventory business. They are based in FLorida and said they have more work than they can take on.
In addition to the initial fee, they are requiring $150.00 for every referral after the affiliate has been paid. their name is HTCA and when I looked the website up on whois.com
 the website was registered in July of 2010. It seemed to good to be true. What do you think?



My response:
Most of these are a scam. Legitimate firms looking for subcontractors approach people directly ("competitors" in their area) or hire additional contractors or employees. If they legitimately have too much work, they're not going to be selling you a kit and then charging you $150 for referrals.

I addressed a similar issue in a previous blog post: