Don't Get Scammed By Online Home Business Coaches

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Owning your business is a dream worth chasing. But are you chasing it wisely? Can you tell the real opportunities from phony ones?

You've probably noticed scrolling down social media feeds that there are dozens of coaches offering to help you launch your own online home-based business.

They advertise with phrases like:

"Live the life you dream of." "Do less work less, make more money."  "From 0 to $1 million."

This type of marketing language is meant to appeal to your desire for financial and location freedom.

It's a dream a mother of three had been chasing for some time.

Shun Jackson of Dallas, Texas said, "After becoming a mom, and then a single mom through divorce, it's so hard to manage my home life for my kids, basically to be there for them."

Desperate to balance work and motherhood, Jackson paid $1,000 for a program with a coach to help her launch and build her own six-figure business.

"She was saying things like multiple six figures. I just said, 'Okay, she is a single mom, I'm a single mom, so I accepted her offer to coach me," Jackson said.

But, in a short time, Jackson realized her coach was nothing like the image she had portrayed online.

"I automatically trusted her. She was already working with a friend of mine," Jackson said. "It was a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde situation from what I seen from her online. Once you became a client of hers it was totally different."

Jackson confronted the coach and asked for her money back.

With the help of an attorney, Jackson discovered, behind the internet veil, the woman who promised to teach her and dozens of others how to build a six-figure business never earned more than $45,000 a year.

She said she felt like the coach misrepresented herself.

Brand strategist Lizz Smoak said it's not always easy to tell who's real and who is not and suggests being forward.

"The question clearly needs to be: When Mr. or Ms. Coach did you hit your six-figure mark?"

While there are many legitimate coaches, Smoak said there are also those who prey on your emotion using marketing tactics that seem legit and appeal to your mindset.

"This tactic you're going to see is this new six-figure business. They're not necessarily saying that they were successful in launching a six-figure business or a million-dollar business. They are using the terminology loosely so you follow the pied piper."

With the online coaching and teaching industry reaching the billion-dollar mark, the Federal Trade Commission, the nation's consumer protection agency, has been cracking down on such businesses making empty promises.

In 2014, the FTC charged and reached a nearly $3-million settlement with  The Online Entrepreneur, an online work at home business that promised consumers a six-figure income.

On average, the FTC receives 20,000 similar complaints a year.

Jackson said the experience she had with the coach was very depressing, but she admits she didn't ask for a contract and did not do enough homework before hiring this coach. She also admits to not knowing her rights in the online space.

The FTC says you as a consumer have the right to ask for additional information and sellers are required by law to provide you with a disclosure document that must include, identifying information, any legal action against them, their cancellation or refund policy, earnings claims statement and references.

To learn more about your rights as a consumer log on to www.ftc.gov.