Because of technology advances and more specifically broadband internet, home based business opportunities and scams are all over the place.  Overhead is lower and so is the barrier of entry for these kind of companies. These home based business or internet based business scams charge anywhere from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars, all up front.  So how do you tell the difference between a legitimate internet based business and a home based business opportunity that is targeting your hard earned money instead of just letting you work hard to earn your money?  It's kind of a two sided coin, since people generally don't want to work very hard for their money so they're naturally attracted to the "too good to be true" opportunities that scamsters are good at promoting.  A legitimate business opportunity takes work to make it successful and there should be a "getting to know" period of testing a smaller package, seeing some actual results before investing more and more money.  This is what I recommend for anyone looking for something legitimate to sink their teeth into.  Don't sink all your teeth but maybe one tooth (few hundred dollars), before spending anymore than that.  AND GET INVOLVED WITH THE OPPORTUNITY!  Don't expect so sit on the sideline and at the same time expect big returns.