While most of these sites seem to be legitimate, every writer/freelancer should proceed with caution when responding to a job advertisement online - particularly a freelance or telecommute opportunity.

Although the job banks may be genuine, the people and/or companies who post jobs on these web sites may not be as truthful with details of the opportunity as they should be.

There are several signs that a "job" posting is not a real "job" and/or is hidden scam in some way.

• The number one sign that a job posting is not actually a "job" is that it asks you for money to become employed. If the company advertising the job opportunity, either directly (in the ad) or indirectly (via email or phone consultation when you respond to the job ad) asks you to submit a check or give your credit card number to cover a "nominal" processing fee so that they can offer you employment - it is probably not a legitimate "job."

  Arguments could be made on both sides as to whether or not it is an authentic opportunity to start your own home-based business, but if you were looking for a home-based business, you would not be searching the freelance job boards, right?

• Another sign that the job you are responding to may not be a "true" job is the posting makes no mention of pay. Sometimes jobs for writers pay in "copies" (copies of the publication where your work will be published) or via "byline" (payment is considered to be your name in print - your byline - published with your work on their website).

  This type of "payment" does not necessarily mean the job is not "legitimate," however, if their posting is misleading, it could be an indication of the veracity of the job poster.

• You should also be wary of a job advertisement that does not provide an associated website. Some prospective "employers" post a job opportunity for writers/freelancers that sounds great, but they only provide an email address for you to contact them.

  This does not always mean that the job is not real, however, it can be a ploy by a person and/or company to collect email addresses (for their own purposes or to sell to direct mail order companies, online marketing ventures, web advertisers etc...)

• The red flag in your head should also go up, if the job posting is not worded properly or contains misspelled words. This is an obvious sign of someone and/or a company, which is not advertising a "genuine" job opportunity.

• Some writing-related websites provide open forums and/or online classifieds for people and/or companies to post jobs for free.

  Many such sites are legitimate because they monitor their postings to prevent fraudulent advertisements. Other sites that do not verify the credentials of their job posters should be used with caution.