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Welcome to Internet Homeworking Directory. NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES FEBRUARY 2004 1. News Welcome to the latest issue of the Homeworking Ideas newsletter, the monthly publication which gives you all the latest news from the UK on ways of earning money from home. This month viruses, scams and spam seem to have dominated my working hours. Whilst spam filters and anti-virus software prevent any damage, it didn't stop me receiving hundreds of copies of "MyDoom" every day for a couple of weeks, together with the more irritating advisory letters from companies that can't correctly identify the sender of the virus. The upshot of this is that amongst the thousands of deleted messages, I've almost certainly inadvertently deleted a few genuine messages so if you haven't had a reply from me, that's the reason. Just contact me again. For the latest report about scams see the article below from Scambusters. Despite such inconveniences to everyone online, business activities seem to be finally back to full speed after the end of year wind down. In the case of the ever popular sector of completing surveys, I'm now getting surveys to complete daily from a wide range of companies, several paying in cash. The following companies for example have sent out 2 or more surveys in the last week alone: Ciao - usually pay £2 per survey or a few pence if you don't fit the target group. Pays out at £10 but you can boost your survey income by writing reviews for their site. See http://www.homeworkinguk.com/ciao.htm if you're not already a member. PureProfile - Pays £1 or more a time for answering a handful of questions, usually taking no more than a couple of minutes each. Exchange for CDWow vouchers or ipoints at £5 or cash at £25. Signup at http://www.homeworkinguk.com/pp.htm GoZing - Typically pay £1.50 to £2 for short surveys. No minimum payout. I've been getting requests every day this week. Signup at http://www.homeworkinguk.com/gozing.htm HtMail - only pays 8p a time but take just a minute or two to complete. I'm getting several every week, and you also earn on surveys completed by people you refer. See http://www.homeworkinguk.com/htmail.htm NOP Surveys - Pay in ipoints, rather than cash,so an easy way to boost your ipoints to exchange for a huge range of goods. The Sharp mini hifi system in my office is courtesy of ipoints, and the NOP surveys certainly speeded up the process. If not already a member of ipoints go to http://www.homeworkinguk.com/ipoints.htm to sign up then click on the link to NOP to enrol and get your first 20 points. For more survey sites visit http://www.homeworkinguk.com/surveys.htm. Sites that have sent one survey this week include YouGov, ACOP, Opinion World, Survey Savvy, Dialego and Harris Poll online. Employment offers Transcription Work If you're a skilled typist take a look at our clerical page http://www.homeworkinguk.com/clerical.htm as we now have several companies urgently requiring typists for audio transcription work. Telephone Work Wanted home workers for B2B Telephone work to contact businesses, dealing at manager and director level. No selling involved, just lead and appointment generation with some account management. Company will supply data and pay for telecom bill. Really good commission for quality results. You can make over £ 70 (based on 3-5 hours a day) a day working for yourself the hours you want to work. Must have own computer and connection to internet. If you are interested please contact John Alderson at RFN Marketing Ltd Tel: 0191 5166668 ext 2185 mob: 07905 335091 Fax: 0191 5166670 E-mail 2. Featured Publication Computer Shopper If you're looking to earn from home, the chances are that you'll be using your computer in one way or another. Keeping up with the latest news and software can help make many tasks easier, so I'd recommend subscribing to at least one computer magazine. My own personal favourite is Computer Shopper which covers a wide range of issues including reviews of hardware and software (eg which anti-virus software works best) and the latest news, using language that even a beginner can understand, without treating you like a idiot, yet comprehensive enough for more technical requirements. Each issue comes with a CD-Rom or DVD crammed full of trial versions of new software products plus one or two complete versions. This month they are offering 3 trial issues of the magazine — CD or DVD edition. Take 3 trial issues and if you’re not satisfied, you don’t pay a thing. You'll also get a copy of Ordnance Survey Interactive Atlas CD-ROM, worth £19.99, as a welcome gift. If you decide to continue your subscription after the trial, rates are nearly 40% less than the high street price, and yes, I do subscribe myself. For full details visit http://www.homeworkinguk.com/compshopper.htm 3. Featured Business Opportunity If you're looking for something to sell, but don't want to waste time and effort making only a couple of pounds of profit on each sale, why not consider jewellery? Cool Jewels have imported various pieces of jewellery at what to me seem like truly unbelievable prices. These are generally less than 50% of the recommended retail price - items I've seen include a diamond gold ring RRP £170, buy for £55; diamond and sapphire gold ring RRP £350, buy for £95. They invite people to buy the jewellery from them and then sell it on at car boot sales, fairs, on the web, or by advertising in local papers. They are not asking for any sign up fee or subscription and will buy back any jewellery not sold for the same price. You can buy from 1 item upwards, there is no minimum purchase. Catalogues are available to select which items you would like to sell, or for a few examples visit http://www.homeworkinguk.com/cooljewels.htm For further details email Sue Booth at s.booth@Lineone.net with your name and address,or write to 3 Potter Rd, Glossop, Derbyshire, SK13 2RA for further details and an order form. In case you're wondering, I've known Sue through her knitting business for some years so you need have no reservations about the legitimacy of the business. 4. Featured Freebies Free eBook Regular visitors to the site have probably come across a highly recommended guide to Internet Marketing entitled "Nothing But 'Net" by Michael Campbell, which sells for $38. Whilst many Internet marketing references have strong theoretical content, few give you a hands on approach. Michael explains internet marketing, step by step, in an easy to read format that is jam packed with useful information, tips, tricks and secrets and his knowledge of search engine tactics and the placement of keyword phases is critical when it comes to generating web site traffic and getting new customers. This month, for newsletter subscribers only, I am able to offer a completely free download of this guide so if you'd like to know how he generated $750,000 in internet revenues, in just one year, without paying for advertising, use the link below to subscribe to this newsletter, then e-mail nbn@homeworkinguk.com for the download link. Free Ink I've previously recommended InkClub who offer low and competitive prices on original and compatible ink cartridges. To welcome new customers they are offering a free ink cartridge for most Epson and Canon printers, or up to 45% on HP and Lexmark. To all you HP and Lexmark owners who feel this isn't fair, they've now added a new freebie - place any order and get a free pack of photo paper (20 sheets of Glossy Instant Dry 4x6). Full details available from http://www.homeworkinguk.com/inkclub.htm While you're there, check out their other bargains like an optical mouse for just £6.99 or a 2.1 Megapixel digital camera from HP for £69. 5. Featured Article The FTC has just released its annual consumer fraud and ID theft report so here's an article taken from http://www.scambusters.org on How to Protect Yourself From the Biggest -- and Worst -- Internet Scams ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ We'll start by summarizing the most interesting findings of the FTC's 2003 Consumer Fraud and ID Theft Report. Then, we'll focus on three of the top Internet issues, and give you specific -- and easy -- recommendations for how to avoid getting taken. The FTC received 516,740 consumer complaints in 2003, up almost 28% from 2002. Forty-two percent of these related to identity theft. Excluding identity theft, the top 10 category rankings were: Internet auctions (15%) Shop at home, catalog sales (9%) Internet services and computer products (6%) Prizes/sweepstakes and lotteries (5%) Foreign money offers (4%) Advance-fee loans and credit protection (4%) Telephone services (3%) Business opportunities and work-at-home plans (2%) Magazine and buyers clubs (1%) Office supplies and services (1%) Internet related fraud accounted for 55% of the reported complaints, up from 45% in 2002. The total losses reported exceeded $437 million, with victims losing an average of $228. Of this, Internet losses totaled almost $200 million, and about $195 per victim. Brief analysis: Clearly, Internet fraud is a very significant portion of overall fraud. Identity theft continues to grow significantly. We believe there are no real surprises on the category list. You can find our discussion of these issues in the ScamBusters archives. http://www.scambusters.org/backissues.html Let's look at three of the most important types of fraud, and summarize how to protect yourself. 1. Identity Theft By far the largest problem, identity theft does not just involve losing money. It can take thousands of hours to repair the damage done to your credit when a scammer steals your financial information and your identity. We recommend that you protect yourself by: Never giving out financial information to people who contact you out of the blue. Buy and use a shredder. Don't let scammers hunting through your garbage find your bank and credit card account numbers, pre-approved credit card invitations, etc. Avoid falling for 'phishing' scams. For more information on this extremely fast-growing aspect of identity theft, see http://www.scambusters.org/Scambusters67.html Don't carry extra credit cards or financial information with you that you don't use on a daily basis. In other words, leave the Gold card at home if you don't use it. Don't post private information in public (or even semi-private) forums or venues on the Internet. You never know who might be lurking. Be extra careful with your passwords. Install and use a firewall. For more on Identity theft, visit http://www.scambusters.org/Scambusters47.html and http://www.scambusters.org/Scambusters65.html 2. Internet Auctions There are many ways you can get scammed if you buy or sell using Internet auction sites. Three of the most common are: Misrepresentation: The merchandise turns out to be different than what it sounded like. In other words, what you see and read about is NOT what you get. Failure to ship: You pay for the product but receive nothing. Escrow fraud: For more expensive items like cars and jewelry, the seller asks you to use a fraudulent escrow company. It's almost impossible to protect yourself from auction fraud 100% of the time. The good news is that most auctions are legitimate. Here are three things you can do to significantly reduce your chances of getting taken: Check out the seller's rating. All of the reputable auction sites let buyers rate their experiences with sellers. Be sure to check this info before you bid and send money to a seller. If you have any questions at all about the auction, ask the seller. You want to understand exactly what you're buying to reduce the likelihood of a misunderstanding. Only use reputable escrow companies, such as those recommended by the auction sites. Scammers are great at creating compelling 'sob stories' of why it's important to use their special escrow company. Don't use escrow companies recommended by sellers. For much more on auction fraud, visit: http://www.scambusters.org/Scambusters43.html 3. Advance-fee loans Most people know this as the 'Nigerian fee scam.' We've written about this extensively, so you can learn more at: http://www.scambusters.org/NigerianFee.html This year, the new variations were new countries and new reasons behind why the money is now supposedly available for transfer. Churches and religious groups have been especially hard hit as religious leaders are told that a wealthy person died and after praying, they now believe that their small church should be the recipient of a few million from the deceased person's estate. For more on this variant, visit: http://www.scambusters.org/Scambusters60.html We'll make only one recommendation about this type of scam: If you receive ANY email from someone you don't know offering you millions of dollars -- hit delete. It's a scam. Finally, we'd like to conclude with our single best recommendation for protecting yourself from Internet fraud: Never respond to - or buy from - any unsolicited email. I hope you've found something of interest this month. I'll speak to you again next month. Lynne O'Connor newsletter@homeworkinguk.com If you're not yet a subscriber, and would like to receive a copy of this newsletter each month, just enter your e-mail address below  Join homeworkinguk!          If you have a business you'd like featured on the site, send details of the opportunity to the address below, for rates and availability. Internet Homeworking Directory or write to: Mrs L O'Connor, 91B Acton Lane, London, NW10 8UT