O S Tech: Another Scam?

Looking in the "help wanted" section of my local paper, I discovered an entry titled ADMIT / CLERICAL. It continued: "Computer/ phone/ fax. Full time/ part time. $11 to $13 per hour. For more information call _____________"

So I called. Working from home is always great! A lady with a heavy Asian accent answered the phone and explained that the job involved doing data entry from home. She said that their company contracts with large corporations and organizations to do their data entry, and then they sub-contract the work out to individuals. Each week they would send me a CD with either 25 or 40 hours of work on it. She said that they have done this so long that they know what volume of work can be accomplished by an average worker in the standard amount of time. When I return the CD with the completed work I get paid. I was not required to own any particular software; everything that I needed to do the job was included on the CD.

This was sounding pretty good to me! I was thinking that I'm a pretty fast worker, and maybe I could complete a 25 hour CD in 20 hours or fewer. That would be great! (I later wondered if this is a way they could take advantage of people, sending 30 or more hours of work, but just saying that most people can do it in 25 hours.)

She said that they would send me a sample CD to get started, and if my work was acceptable when I returned it I would be notified within a week whether I would be able to work on a regular basis.

"So how do I get started?" I asked.

"It's really simple," she continued. "You pay a one time membership fee and we send you the first CD."

Oh, oh! Now the red flags were flying. It turns out that they wanted $73.99 up front, plus a $12.00 shipping and handling fee. I could write a check or give her my credit card number.

"I don't think that I want to give you my credit card number without some kind of contract on paper for me to see, " I said.

"Well, there is a 90 day money back guarantee if you find out that working from home is not for you. We send you the contract with the first CD. You are not taking any risk."

"You are just a voice on the phone to me," I countered.

"We are very reputable and have been in business for eight years," she huffed.

"I don't even know your company's name," I exclaimed.

"You can look at our web site; we are OS Tech."

So I tried to do just that. I told her I'd call back if I wanted to pursue this any farther, and went searching the internet. Seems that this is a popular company name. I found one company that makes chemicals... that didn't seem to match with data entry contracts. There is another one that makes electronic materials. They caught my eye for awhile because most of their work is done in Asia, and my phone lady was clearly Asian. But neither their Europe or America page would load. "Under construction" was ominous... then I realized they aren't a data entry company either. I revised my search to include data entry and I found a lot of places on line where they had placed the same advertisement that I answered. But no web site for the company I appeared to be looking for. Somehow that wasn't too reassuring.

Next I called the Better Business Bureau in the city where their phone number was listed. They had never heard of them, and had no information concerning the phone number that I called. Not definitive, but definitely suspicious.

They had heard of a specialty prep school called OS Tech, but I couldn't see a high school running a data entry service on the side, either.

I checked the Work Place Like Home web site, and they don't list that company as legitimate. Signing in and posting to the forums got me responses such as, "no reputable company makes you pay up front to work for them." And I could not find OS Tech on any of their lists of known good opportunities.

Can I say without a doubt that OS Tech is a scam? No. However, there were just too many warning signs for me to take a chance on giving them my credit card number. Thinking of all the places where I saw the same listing that I responded to, I have to wonder how many people are giving away $85.99 and getting nothing in return.

Watch your step if you ever answer similar ads that look like good opportunities. Get a contract in writing. Look for more information yourself... don't take their word for their reputation. Most importantly: Don't pay a company money to work for them.