Chattanooga Police: Don't Fall Victim to Work at Home Scams

The recession has thousands of people in the Chattanooga area on the job hunt.

The promise to make plenty of cash from the comfort of home proves too enticing for some.

Consumer watch dog groups say work at home scams are on the rise.

Ad, "Live the good life and never work for someone else again."

They make appealing messages on the television.

Dorothea Morris, "Yes it is tempting. But I know, I don't think it's true."

Testimonial, "I started making money the very first day. In three days I had made $210 ."

And tempting testimonials online.

Faith Pressley, "I get them in my email box all the time.

Nordia, "What do you do when you get them?"

Faith, "I spam them."

George Woods, "Number one it's a rip off. Number two it's spam."

Opportunities promising plenty of cash for very little work at home.

Stephanie Haakon, "If you make any money at all you'll be really lucky."

Nordia, "Do you think people still fall for these?

Sgt. Rebecca Shelton, Chattanooga Police Property Crimes, "Oh yeah, Definitely. Especially home scams, any kind of scams."

Sgt. Rebecca Shelton says there's a sure sign you're dealing with a scammer.

Sgt. Shelton, "They want some money up front. We're going to ship you some items that we want you to sell for us or you have some scams where they want you to address labels and they go send me a thousand dollars send me two thousand dollars make it a cashiers check money order something like that that should be a red flag."

She says one of the latest work-at-home scams in our area involved items to be mailed bought with a stolen credit card.

Josefina Flores, "I don't have a computer but I wonder why so many people talk about that they have made some money."

Ad, "I take vacations. I do what I want when I want."

Consumer watch dog groups suggest staying away from ads with "work atome"...especially those promising "unbelievable pay" with no experience or resume necessary.

And watch out for commercials with palm trees, mansions, fancy cars and bikinis

Bottom line, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Sgt. Shelton, "People are losing their money."

One group that screens around 5 thousand leads for home based job every week reports one scam for every 55 leads.

If you think you've been scammed call the Better Business Bureau and local police.