Contact 6 warns job seekers about another work-from-home scam
MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Spend some money up front, and get it back in mere months! That was the promise thousands of people fell for after realizing a work-at-home offer was a scam.
For just $6,000 and a one-day course, job seekers were told they could learn to do medical billing -- working from home and earning big bucks.
"They would be told there would be no need to market the services. The demand was so great for medical billing that they wouldn`t even need to knock on doctors` doors. Doctors would be seeking them out," U.S. Postal Inspector Terrence Sullivan said.
The company lured in victims by telling them they could earn $1,200 a month and that EDI would help them find clients.
"EDI would provide them with a couple of firms or doctors` offices or chiropractors or medical laboratories that would be in their area," Sullivan said.
As it turned out, the whole thing was a scam.
"In this particular case, it was always a fraud. There was no demand for the medical billing service they were offering," Sullivan said.
Victims lost the $6,000 fee they paid for the program as well as money spent flying to a one-day training session in Detroit.
In all there were 3,500 victims and more than $17 million in losses.
"No one is going to pay you big money and not ask you to put out a lot of effort. They really take advantage of people in a desperate situation," Sullivan said.
The majority of people who signed up for the course never found a single client and never made a dime.