The ability to earn a living from home is one that millions of people would enjoy. No one likes being a slave to a time clock, and no one enjoys working for a difficult boss. The notion of working from home is appealing to everyone who has ever had an unpleasant job, and thousands of Americans try their hands at it every year with varying degrees of success.

Where there is opportunity for success, there is also opportunity for fraud, and the work at home sector is no exception to that rule. Offers to work from home are common subjects of spam e-mail, and there are thousands of Websites devoted to lavish descriptions of the riches one can acquire while working from home. Unfortunately, most of these offers are fraudulent, and the only thing that most people will get out of them is a lighter wallet. Offers to get rich at home while stuffing envelopes or processing medical claims for physicians earn far more for the people selling them than they do for the victims who buy them.

These are but two of the common work at home scams that can be commonly found in e-mail solicitations or in the classified advertising sections of business-related magazines. Anyone who is considering investing in a plan to work from home should first consider the following:

You can't get something for nothing. If a company promises that you can make thousands each week from doing little or no work, you should be suspicious.

Do not respond to solicitations that come via e-mail. These messages are literally sent out by the millions in hopes that a few people will believe the offer and send money. Don't do it.

Find out what it is you will do to get paid. Then do some research on your own. Is there a market for the work you will be doing? Look into it.

Research the company involved. Thanks to the Internet, it's as easy as looking them up in a search engine. See what others have to say about the company.

Do you have to invest money? How much? What do you receive? Can you get a refund if you change your mind? Find out.

While there are legitimate opportunities to work from home, most offers to hire people to do so are fraudulent. By doing a little homework before you invest your money or time, you can avoid being another victim of a work at home scam.