Data entry jobs are becoming the envelope stuffing of the digital age - It's a great way of earning money but only if you're promoting it and not actually working at it. Some data entry scams ask for a set up fee and some don't but all these data input 'jobs' offer the scammer the chance to rip you off in a variety of ways.

Most people's idea of a data entry job is one where you get paid for typing information into a PC either by the hour or per page, word or whatever. This kind of legitimate data entry work is very difficult to find to do on a work at home basis.

There are plenty of real data entry jobs, for example entering invoices into Excel or accounts packages, but they are largely office based and don't pay a great amount - usually around 6-10 GB Pounds per hour and not the hundreds a day offered by so-called data entry job opportunities.

If you are looking for a way to earn money from home take a look at some of the other ideas on this site - there are no get-rich-quick schemes, but there are ways you can make a reasonable extra income by working from home.

How do data entry scams work?

If you are searching out ways to make extra cash, you might see a small advert that promises big earnings for data entry work done at home. The ad will take you to a page that confirms you can make loads of money just by sitting at your PC and doing a little typing for a few hours a week.

Why these huge amounts are available to anyone with no specific skills other than basic typing is not generally explained but all will be made clear once you sign up for that high-earning data input job....

Oh and just to make sure you are serious, there could well be a sign-up / registration / joining / admin fee. This will be accompanied by all sorts of guarantees and money-back promises but once you've parted with your cash, getting it back is often nigh on impossible...

What is a Money Mule?

A 'money mule' is the web version of the drugs mule - someone expendable who is pressured, tricked or bribed into carrying out illegal actions at no risk to the criminals higher up the chain. In this case, it involves making money transfers for funds that have been obtained illegally.

How does this scam work?

You might get an email offering part-time work as an administrator, executive, representative, manager or similar and earn good money for processing payments which for some plausible-sounding reason need to go via your bank account.

It will often refer you to a professional looking website which might have a similar name or domain to a well-known and legitimate company or bank.

If you give your new 'employer' your details, be prepared to watch your identity get stolen, your bank account get emptied and yourself possibly facing criminal charges.

Some victims of this data input scam have gone ahead and received payments into their account which they have then forwarded after deducting a commission as agreed with the 'employer'. Job done - except that they find later that the money that passed through their account has been obtained from an illegal source and they are liable to repay it or face criminal proceedings. The money that passes through your account, can arrive there as a result of all kinds of fraud: Stolen or hacked credit cards and bank information, phishing, phoney websites and fake auctions.

The end result is always the same - after you have transferred the money (usually to eastern europe) and the criminals have long since vanished from the scene, you'll be left to deal with angry people who've been ripped off, your not-so-friendly local police and the fraud department of your bank who by now will have frozen your account and impounded all your money!

As so often with scams, the people who get caught up are the vulnerable: the unemployed and desperate for cash, the elderly and housebound. Our advice is don't get involved with anything of this nature - if you are offered any kind of unsolicited business opportunity or employment, it's a fraud.

If you're looking for ways to make money on the web, the key is to research in depth before you make any commitment or investment. Search the company and site name and talk through the idea with family and friends before you do anything.

More about phoney 'money mule' job offers (external site - opens in new window)

What about the free 'data entry' jobs?

The 'free' work from home data entry jobs are generally just affiliate programs under one guise or another where you have to pay to advertise on search engines to try and get sales for whatever the product is (e-books are popular)

You'll be given a link or 'landing page' and earn a commission on each sale made from that page but you'll find that it's very difficult to turn a profit after paying for the ads. The seller of the product however is in a win-win situation as you are paying per click but he is only paying you per sale.

In effect although you are not paying to sign up, you are paying the seller's advertising costs. He doesn't care if you lose money on a pay per-click campaign as he is only paying you after he has collected money for the sale.

For example - if you are making 10 Pounds per sale and the conversion rate is 1% (1 out of every 100 people that arrive on your site or landing page makes a purchase) then you can only turn a profit if you are paying less than 10p a click. In practice conversion rates (sales) can be much lower making a profit very difficult to achieve. Most people give up after spending a few days or weeks at it and losing some money.

Add to this the fact that many so-called data entry jobs ask for an up-front fee for registration and you can see that it's a great earner for the seller but a quick way to lose money for the victim! Again our advice is to thoroughly research the company you are looking at and do not pay any up-front fees.

Find out more about scams schemes from consumer direct (opens in new window ) more on scams (opens in new window )