Contact 6: Work-at-home/online job postings scam

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Job seekers often turn to the internet to search for job opportunities -- and most sites feature real offers from real companies. However, FOX6's Contact 6 says some online postings come with a price!

Ella Butler found an ad for a work-at-home position and decided to apply for the job in the re-shipping business.

After sending in a copy of her drivers license, Butler signed a contract to re-ship items via Express Mail.

"Receive packages at my home and then send them wherever they tell me to send them. It was easy money, $16 dollars a package," Butler said.

Butler was sent ski equipment, watches and even an electric guitar to ship out, but then she started to become suspicious.

"I noticed that all of the packages I was sending went to Russia. All these different names coming to my address and I called the postal service," Butler said.

Postal inspectors began tracking the packages Butler was receiving.

"The Internet allows fraudsters to hide behind the computer. Basically it is a fraudulent credit card purchase that is shipped to an individual in the U.S. who unwittingly participating in the scheme from a work-at-home job," U.S. Postal Inspector Frank Schissler said.

The lesson here: before taking a job advertised online, check out the company with the Better Business Bureau or the state's attorney general.

"You can fall for this kind of scam, because they are just too good to be true. It`s quick money. Do no fall for it," Butler said.