The world is full of people who feel they can take advantage of others to obtain their goals in life. Fraud, Deceit & Scams happen in the real world every day. Just tune into your local news to hear about them. But, Fraud, Deceit & Scams also happen in the virtual world as well. And, unfortunately they often hit those who least can afford the losses.

Online we are always inundated with "get rich quick schemes" and their claims of "overnight success". If you're like me you find this kind of s.p.a.m clogging up your email box on a daily bases. They tell us how easy it is. How we can just sit back and relax, do nothing all day long and still make a roll full of money. Hell, we might as well go golfing because we'll be making money hand over fist while on the golf course. :-| Now while sitting back and watching the money roll in would definitely be nice, reality is, rarely does any get rich quick scheme ever work. The promises of millions never pan out no matter how hard you try.

The problem here is that so many people want and need to make more money. And they want to make that money as quickly as they can. So they believe, or hope that what the scammer is telling them will be true. But understand this, even the greatest, largest companies in the world took time and work to build. Martha Stewart for example will tell you that she started her business in the basement of her house. And look where that business is today. A multibillion dollar a year corporation. While we all can't be Martha Stewart or Donald Trump or Hugh Heffner we can have our own successful home based business if we just stay away from the scams.

So, how do we spot the scams? Well, if you are serious about operating your own home based business there are things you can watch out for. Sort of the red flags of the business opportunity world. Let's have a look at some now.

• Charging you for information about their business opportunity. It's pretty plain and simple. A so called business opportunity tells you all you have to do is go to your mail box pick up the checks and cash them, but first you must send them a check to get the information on how this is done. I'm of the thinking that your check is going to be the only check getting cashed here. This type of ad appears all over the internet. But if their business opportunity is so good why must you pay to find out what it is. Would it not make more sense to give you that information for free so they could get you interested in their product. I would think so! And unfortunately many people get scammed into sending these frauds the money they ask for. Then if they receive the information they paid for they will often find it pretty much useless and often they are require to send more money for more information. Stay away from these types of ads, they will not get you a successful home based business!

• They want to charge you a fee to sell their products.

O.K., I've got to ask - What's up with that?! If their product is so great won't you be selling them like crazy? Won't you be making money for not only yourself but for the company as well? Don't pay to sell someone else's products.

• They offer you free products.

Ever see these ads where you are entitled to a free (what ever) only to discover you'll need to purchase something first. i.e.: Sign up today and get (what ever) for FREE! Of course what they don't tell you is you'll have to purchase a sample package first in order to get the freebie.

• Fly by nights

Fly by night companies that pop up and take people’s money operate both offline and online. Very often they disappear without warning. So to keep yourself safe from these frauds ask yourself the following questions. Is this an established company? How long have they been in business? Do they have an actual street address or only a P.O. Box? Or worse, no address and no way to contact them at all? Do they use only an auto responder or do they have an email where you can get in touch with a real person?

I know that all these points seem like common sense. But why then, do so many people ignore them. That is why these scammers can exist. As explained in my book "eBay Marketing Wholesale SourcePak" when looking for your perfect home based business it is important to look for a company that only gives you the straight goods. No promises of exorbitant amounts of money falling from the sky into your lap without you doing a thing to make it happen. And, they should not be charging you for any information on their business opportunity it should be laid out for you. Use your own common sense, if something looks too good to be true, then it probably is too good to be true.