Top 10 Work-From-Home Scams that Keep Invading My Inbox and Why They Amuse Me

As a freelance writer and the owner of a website for people who work from home, my name (actually, my email address) seems to flash "Golden Opportunity" to every spam artist, internet marketer and affiliate trying to sell the work from home opportunity, luxury and lifestyle. What they don't know is, I already have it.

Yes, dear spammers, I have it all. I already work from home. I already make enough money. I have more opportunities to make money online than I can keep up with; in fact, I often have to outsource portions of my work, because I am so busy.

I don't need to buy an ebook to learn how to make money online, I don't need to subscribe to a new members-only service to find work from home jobs online, and I don't need to purchase an automatic system to generate income from my computer while I am sleeping. I have only one confession to make: I find the contents of my spam folder so amusing that some days I feel a little guilty. I'm thinking of writing "Thank You for All The Laughs" letters. Meanwhile, I thought I'd pass along the comedy to all of you.

Here are my top 10 favorite repeat invaders:

1. Get Paid to Type at Home: This ad begins by telling me that I can make hundreds of thousands of dollars per year typing from home WITHOUT knowing how to type. That's right, folks, all you need to make great money typing from home is this ebook. You don't even need to know your way around the keyboard.

2. Get Paid $3500 a Week By Google: This one's offer is a little more vague. Apparently, I can make a share of the "Google Billions" in only a few hours per week without doing anything at all.

3. A Home Business That Makes $436,797 a Year: This message starts out by telling me that since I've asked how to set up a home business that has a real chance of success, they're giving me the answer! (How nice of them, since I never even asked the question.) This is the "truly amazing story" of how one woman with no prior business experience turned a huge profit selling other people's stuff online. (Neat.)

4. Get Paid to Write on the Internet: This one is particularly amusing. Evidently, if I can write at a fifth-grade level, I can make a full-time income writing for websites, ebooks, and newsletters. Earn $400 per day. No experience necessary!

5. Shop Until You Drop - And Get Paid To Do It: Yes, folks, making $175 per hour is easy and fun as a mystery shopper. You can even keep free stuff. (I hate shopping. And I have enough stuff. But this one makes me laugh every time.)

6. Find Yourself Some Legitimate Online Jobs: There are so many online jobs available today that is sometimes hard to know where to start. For $49.95, this guy will point me in the right direction.

7. Learn From the Rich Jerk: Yes, now I too can pay someone to insult me. Fabulous.

8. Start a Career in Medical Transcription: This one almost sounds legitimate. For fun, I clicked on the website in the ad. Ironically, the sales pitch on the site is written in a kiddy font, and the site is made up of the worse color scheme I've ever seen (for a business site). I immediately got a headache and could barely make it through to the "buy now" button.

9. Earn $1500 a Week Stuffing Envelopes: This is so old. You've got to be kidding me.

10. Make a Million Dollars on the Internet: "Can you make a million dollars on the Internet? Yes, you can, and this company aims to show you how. Here you will learn the techniques you need to master to get one step ahead in the online game." Beyond that, I don't know what this one is about. When I've tried to follow the link from the ad to the website, the site never loads.