Tips on how to avoid work at home scams and home based business scams

Never pay for the chance to work!
The reality of the situation is that any information that you have to pay for is obtainable for free on the internet. You might feel that it is worth a small investment of money not to have to do the research. However, you will probably end up with outdated information that is virtually useless.
Treat working at home as if you would treat working for an employer at their place of business. Imagine if an interviewer asked you for money before they could consider you for the job. Would they ask for a "good faith" payment to be sure you were interested? Nope.
Some home-based business might require money for start-up costs or to cover the costs of materials. If that's the case, know exactly what you are getting, how much the total costs will be, and their refund policy.

Never reply to spam or any other unsolicited emails.
Most unsolicited emails are fraudulent. The better it sounds, the less likely that it's legitimate. There is a reason that spam rhymes with scam. Be wise; delete spam without reading it--no matter how good the claim sounds.
If you get an unsolicited email telling you that a company you have never heard of wants to hire you for a job where you don't need experience or skills and can make a lot of money, trash it. There's lots of out there, some of which are personalized and sound quite legitimate .

Be patient.
If you're looking to start a home-based business, or looking for telecommuting work you can do at home, you may have a considerable search ahead of you. Don't let scammers use high-pressure tactics to sucker you in. If you're given a time-limited offer, there's usually a reason why -- scammers know that pressure brings in people!

Beware of vagueness and incredible claims.
What they don't say is just as important as what they do say. Companies that don't state their names, costs, or other important information in their ads usually have a good reason. They don't want you to know why they are or what they are really offering. If they can't be honest with you up front, what makes you think they will be honest with you later?

Avoid signing up for anything in order to gain more information.
Why would they need to protect the information if it's free? Why do they want your name, address, email and phone number so badly? That's right. They probably have another purpose for it.