Action News Anchor Jason Oliveira found the offers are everywhere and can be tempting.
"He ran advertisements asking if you wanted to make $3,500 dollars a week," said Marc Ewing, US Postal Inspector.
Sounds good for a "stay at home" business, right? Wrong. The envelope stuffing offer was a scam. The catch? First you had to pay $42 upfront for information on how to get started.
Postal inspectors found the con artists by sending in their own $42 and tracing the money. In one case alone 3,000 victims and almost $400,000 in losses were found.
"You can't make $3,500 for putting a letter in an envelope and putting it in the mail. It is impossible," Ewing said. Inspectors say victims were usually desperate.
"A lot of the victims I spoke with were down on their luck out of a job they are trying to make money," Ewing said. If you are tempted by a "work at home" business opportunity, ask these questions:
Who will pay me?
What tasks will I have to perform?
What is the total cost of the program, including supplies, equipment and membership fees?
Forgive the cliché but it applies here. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is
