The dream of thousands of people is to be free to work at home. The ads are enticing. Be your own boss. Make as much money as you need. There are so many opportunities it seems impossible that you could fail. But the sad truth is that many, if not most of these opportunities, are scams. Some are worse than others. Here are some of the absolute worst.

One of the classic online scams is one that particularly targets older people. Like Paid Surveys, this one has been around for years, even before the internet. It is particularly distasteful because it targets people who are not as sophisticated in the use of computers as younger people may be.

ENVELOPE STUFFING SCAMS
I fell for this scheme myself many years ago when I got out of college.

The Ponzi scheme is named for Charles Ponzi, who immigrated to the United States in 1903. In the 1920's he devised a postage stamp speculation scheme that duped thousands of people in New England out of millions of dollars. It is thought that Ponzi made over 1 million dollars in one three-hour period. The most amazing thing is that it was 1921. Imagine what that equates to in today's dollars.