A disturbing trend is emerging as more moms are making the decision to stay home and raise their children. Some of these moms are falling prey to work-from-home scams.

Stay-at-home-moms are particularly vulnerable to these "get rich quick" schemes. Most held paying jobs before their child was born. Often emergencies and sudden extra expenses take them by surprise, even through they planned financially to quit work. These expenses can deplete the cash reserves they set aside, making some mothers desperate to earn extra money.

The number of work-from-home scams is mind-numbing, but they all share some very easy to spot clues. All you have to do is look for the warning signs before you sign up.

The opening paragraph claims you can make hundreds of dollars a day working from your home, even if you only work part-time. Any time you are told something that sounds too good to be true it should raise a big red flag and make you want to do more research before you shell out any cash.

The ad claims you do not need experience to earn tons of money. In the real world, jobs are filled based on work experience and education. The better your experience is, the better your pay will be. So anytime someone tells you no experience required to earn thousands of dollars be wary.

The ad has a lot of capitalizations, yet is not clear about what the job is or entails. Bold claims with little substance is the center stone of a scammer's ads. They will promise you the moon if only you will send them money.

You have to pay a fee or purchase some information to find the businesses who will pay you the huge fees to work from home. While many direct sale companies require a fee to set you up as a distributor of their product it is usually nominal. The ones you have to watch out for ask for hundreds of dollars for contact lists or books that will tell you how to make money.

You must call a 900 phone number in order to get more information or sign up. 900 numbers charge the caller. This means you are paying for every minute you are on the phone, even those moments you spend on hold. It is a win-win situation for the scammer.

If you do talk to someone, you are pressured to sign up immediately before you can think it through. High pressure sales tactics is how many people are sucked into giving up their hard earned money. Sales people are trained to make the caller feel stupid if they say no or make them believe they will miss out on the deal of the lifetime if they hang up.

You must convince other people to sign up in order to make any money. This is the most offensive of all scammer's tricks to me. Not only are you in danger of losing money, but you are expected to put your friends and family at risk. If you can only make money in this manner, it is not a business. It is Multi-Level Marketing. These are also known, by both authorities and victims, as pyramid schemes. The only people who profit from these types of "businesses" are the people at the top.

Before you send in a single dollar, always check out any business venture. Contact the Better Business Bureau to find out if there are any complaints against them. Do an internet search using the company's name, paying special attention to any sites that have complaints against the company or their practices.

If you find you have been taken, try to get your money back. Write a letter to the company asking for your money back. Send this certified mail, return receipt requested. If they refused, then report the company to the Better Business Bureau and the Consumer Protection Association of America. If the company contacted you through the mail also contact the Post Office Mail Fraud Department. But realize you may never see any of your money again.

Work-from-home scams have been around for years, but if you are careful you can avoid the crooks. Always check any new business venture out before you sign up and keep your hard-earned money where it belongs, with you.