How do you tell a legitimate MLM business opportunity apart from all the pyramid scams plaguing the Internet? Do your due diligence and you’ll find that there are plenty of legitimate home business opportunities awaiting you after all.

When you’re researching a home business idea, it’s a good idea to be familiar with how scams work so you’ll be able to spot one early on and eliminate it from your shortlist.

One of the most common dangers in home business opportunities is called a pyramid scam and it’s fairly easy to spot because, apart from minor variations, it works the same way no matter how well people try to hide the scam.

Basically, a pyramid scam is a non-sustainable business model that requires you to shell out money for the "privilege" of enrolling other people into the scam without so much as product or service delivered in exchange. So beware of any home business idea or opportunity that doesn’t really offer anything of value and asks for money just so you can recruit more people into the system.

The sad truth is that far too many online MLM companies try to pass themselves off as legitimate home business opportunities but are actually nothing more than elaborate re-incarnations of one type of pyramid scam or another. It’s sad because these tend to resemble some aspects of legitimate MLM home business opportunities. It has given the entire MLM industry a bad rap and made it more difficult for genuine entrepreneurs to earn money online.

For your own protection, look for a safety logo issued by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to identify genuine MLM companies. You can also run the domain name of the company you’re researching in alexa.com or domaintools.com to see when it was created. Companies running a pyramid scam usually try to lure people in by claiming to have been around for a long time so if the domain name is relatively new, there’s a good chance they’re not being upfront with you.

That said, if you do find a home business idea that doesn’t raise any red flags, then check it out by all means and don’t be afraid to ask very direct questions. Anyone who is part of a legitimate operation will be more than happy to answer your questions to your complete satisfaction. Don’t let yourself feel pressured into making decisions you’re not completely comfortable with.

With due diligence and enough research, you’ll discover that there really are home business ideas that will allow you to trade in your 9-5 job and reap substantial income from the comfort of your own home. Real opportunities do exist but it’s up to you to navigate between what’s real and what’s not.