I remember not too long ago someone (who shall remain nameless) asking me if a “work at home” job sounded legit. I looked into it a little bit, but I didn’t find any specific things that made me think that it wasn’t what it said it was. Even with out that, I still suggested against it. Now I am very glad that I did and I am very glad that this person agreed.
There is an article in the Washington Post about how “Money Mules” work. A woman that had just been laid off was solicited to work for a company by accepting Paypal money transfers, taking a percentage and shipping the rest out to various Western Union accounts. As it turned out, the “company” that she was “working” for had sold a non-existent laptop for almost $3000, put the money in her account and had her send it off to two separate places in India. The person who ordered the laptop didn’t get the hardware and the woman who laundered the money was deemed responsible to pay it all back.
The original author has added more information on his blog.