When you first start looking for a work from home job it may be a little intimidating. Just Craigslist alone has so many telecommuting jobs listed it is hard to sort through what is real and what is a scam. Here are some things to watch for when searching for a legitimate work from home job.
Does the job ask for your resume or application?
If the company seems very uninterested in your background or experience chances are it is a scam.
Do they give a detailed description of what the job is and what you would be doing?
If the job description is non-existant or very, very vague then chances are there is no real job.
Does the job ad sound more as if it is trying to sell YOU on the job instead of selling the job on you?
If the ad for the job sounds as if it is trying to sell you it's probably a scam. Any real job is going to want you to sell yourself to them with your resume and experience not the other way around.
Does the ad say something like "MAKE $2000 a week working part time!!!"?
Once again, if it sounds too good to be true then it usually is.
Do they ask for money?
This is a bad sign but if they start asking for money before they have even interviewed you then it is even worse. There are some legitimate work at home companies that will require you to pay for your own background test. I have worked for two of them so I know they are legit but before you hand out money for ANY reason make sure you do your research.

If the ad lists the name of the company or the website then do your research. There are lots of websites you can check to see if the company has complaints against them. Scambusters.com and Ripoffreport.com are just a couple. Also check a few work at home forums and do a search by the company name. You may find postings by people who work for the company and can back up that they are legit or you may find postings by people who were attempted to be scammed. Also, another great way to check out a website is to do a search for the domain. You can find out how long that domain has been registered and to who. If it is a brand new domain then be careful. There are several places you can do this at but here is one. Just type in the domain name and it will tell you when it was registered http://whois.domaintools.com/