You have probably seen the ads for work-from-home stuffing envelopes jobs online.
They generally sound something like this, “Earn Money From Home Stuffing Envelopes. Work Anytime, Anywhere!”
If this ad sounds too good to be true, it’s because it is. The “making money stuffing envelopes at home” gig is one of the biggest scams online, targeting students, single mothers, the elderly, or anyone else who needs to make extra money fast.
Unfortunately, thousands of people who are desperate to make money quickly have fallen for these work-at-home jobs.
Registering for one of the home-based jobs often results in a lost deposit of some kind, either in the form of a registration fee or a shipping and handling fee for envelopes that never arrive.
Do Home Jobs Stuffing Envelopes Exist?
If you were looking forward to spending the week stuffing envelopes at home while watching TV and being paid for it, you would be very disappointed.
There is no such thing as an at-home envelope stuffing job. The same goes for jobs that offer real leaflet packing or advertise themselves as “home packing jobs.”
People think that envelope stuffing work is a real job that exists because decades ago, before most of modern life was automated, packing leaflets was a legitimate part-time job.
Many people can recall folding and packing leaflets into a box when they were a teenager, but usually, the boxes of flyers were delivered to their homes by a vehicle.
Nowadays, it would be incredibly expensive for any company to spend the postage required for mailboxes of leaflets and envelopes to be stuffed by employees. Big companies simply don’t need people to sit at home stuffing envelopes for them.
If you think about it, outsourcing envelope stuffing work makes no sense at all, as the entire process of doing bulk mailing can now be taken care of by on-site automation.
Rather than outsource their envelope stuffing jobs to homeworkers, corporations can send their jobs to a mailing company that uses high-speed technology to process large quantities of mail.
What Do These Work-From-Home Scammers Want From You?
If you are wondering what’s in it for the online jobs scammer, it is usually your personal information or a cash deposit.
Most people willingly hand over some kind of registration fee. They are told that they are shipping and handling fees for the boxes of envelopes they are expecting to receive by special delivery.
Of course, the boxes never appear, there are no envelopes to stuff, and the company either seems to disappear or doesn’t respond to your pleas for a refund.
What The FTC Says About Envelope Stuffing Scams
These types of scams are so common that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a warning about them.
In 2015, the FTC managed to halt a company that scammed 7 million dollars from tens of thousands of people who simply wanted a home job stuffing envelopes to make extra cash.
The scam promised that workers would make $5000 or more weekly just by stuffing envelopes. A paycheck would be mailed out every Tuesday for these home jobs.
In this case, particular participants were asked to send the employer, David S Brookman, $99.00 as a start-up fee for a starter kit that included job adverts to continue the ruse.
In return, some people were sent circulars for another fake work-at-home program. The only way for many to recoup their funds was to post the fliers and then scam a new batch of people in a similar way.
How Does An Envelope Stuffing Scam Work?
The victim of the “make money packing envelopes” scam is enticed to participate by a flyer or online advertisement that typically promises a big deal of money for simply sitting at home and packing envelopes.
You would need to make a small payment to join. “For just a small fee, you can earn extra bucks a month by packing envelopes at home!”
After making this payment, you will either never hear from them again or be sent advice on how to build your own fake envelope stuffing empire.
You will be sent a flyer or two and be instructed to make them into posters or post ads online. Unfortunately, many desperate people continue the scam simply because they want to make back their lost money.
Signs of A Work-At-Home Scam
When looking for ways to earn easy money from home, you should take note of the following red flags that signify that the job is a complete scam.
The Job Seems Too Good to Be True
If you are being offered $5000 a week to stuff envelopes, you might wonder why everybody else around you is taking those low-paying jobs working in grocery stores and at gas stations.
Even people highly qualified in the corporate world don’t make $5000 a week.
Requires You to Recruit Others
There are some legitimate multi-level marketing (MLM) jobs that do require the recruitment of others to sell a product or service, but stuffing envelopes does not fall into this category.
Still, you should carefully research any MLM company before getting involved with them to ensure they are not a pyramid scheme.
Pyramid schemes are illegal in the UK. These packing job company scams rely on recruiting members under false pretenses and having a series of individuals pay upfront costs up the pyramid.
Although you could make a bit of money, the federal trade commission warns that making extra cash this way is illegal.
Amateurish Ads
Ads for envelope stuffing on Craigslist, Kijiji, and on the street posters tend to have bad spelling and poor grammar. It is a dead give-away that the poster or ad has been replicated many times.
A misleading ad will lead you to a scam website that is not secure. This is indicated by the beginning of a URL that starts “http://” rather than “https://.”
Ads for envelope stuffing jobs also tend to leave out important contact information or even a company name.
You’re Ask to Pay Upfront Fees
No legitimate online job will ask you for an upfront fee for anything. The make money stuffing envelopes scam usually asks for $100 or more to set you up with boxes, postage costs, and leaflets.
Ads for an envelope stuffing program can be very convincing, telling registrants they will receive thousands of dollars in ten days. Some people are more than willing to pay money for a job as simple as filling envelopes.
Conclusion
The sad conclusion is that these work-from-home jobs simply do not exist. But, unfortunately, people have been known to make money by replicating fake adverts and keeping the scam going.
At a charge of $99 per registrant, the instigator of the continued fraud stands to make $1000 per false sign-up.
People who advertise the fake envelope stuffing jobs can make a quick buck but at the expense of their integrity and risk of arrest.
Participating in a scheme to stuff envelopes is illegal because the practice is deceptive. You can be charged with mail fraud. For more information about stuffing envelope jobs and the law, visit the Federal Trade Commission website.
In the meantime, don’t waste your hard-earned money and do your research if you suspect you are about to be involved with a scam company.
