Many people need jobs but find they can't leave their home, but are there ways to make money from home without falling prey to internet scam artists?

Being able to earn money while working from home sounds great, especially to those living in special circumstances. A single parent, disabled veteran, care-giver to aging parents, or someone with a special medical condition, the list goes on.

Every day we see offers online, but how many are legit and how many are scams?

It's just another day at the office for Ashley Carey, only she's not at the office.

Since July she's worked from home, making $9 an hour taking customer service calls from the spare bedroom of her home in Panama City.

Carey works for Alpine Access, a home based call center that actually offers ways to make money from home.

"The money that we're saving in gas is outlandish. It's great and it's just like any other call center, there's just as much support" said Carey.

Carey could work outside her home, but needed to work around her husband's schedule and care for her black labs.

"I hated leaving them locked up when we weren't here. I hated it because it was eight or nine hours, sometimes more, and they just get really frustrated. I like being able to be home with my husband and cook him dinner."

Alpine hires workers for a number of companies that train and equip people throughout the U.S. to deal with customer calls, creating a call center with operators sprinkled across the country.

Carey found a legitimate opportunity, but buyer beware: not all offers for work-at-home jobs are legit. Many, especially the ones advertised on the internet, are scams. The Better Business Bureau gives this advice: If it sounds too good to be true, it is.

"If you're talking a work-at-home job, and especially the scams that we see where they promise you'll make $8,000 a month working from the comfort of your home. Well, if that were true, as much as I love the BBB, I wouldn't be working for them if I could do $8,000 a month from home" said Better Business Bureau representative Karen Szulczewski.

The BBB also warns against employers who don't give details about what you'd be doing, the name of their company and what they do. Remember that employers are going to pay you to work for them, so you shouldn't have to pay them for the job.

"You know, there's a couple red flags we see pretty consistently throughout. If they're asking for a lot of personal information before they ever offer you a job; if they're wanting your social security number or bank account information before you're interviewed, that's a red flag".

Alpine Access, the agency that hired Ashley is currently recruiting new employees. Click on the "news links" button for more information.