Pushed by telemarketers, online marketing, and print advertising, these "lenders" promise that you'll qualify despite your credit record, past bankruptcies, or lack of assets. Desperate entrepreneurs need only send a few thousand dollars to cover the "loan-processing fee," "transfer fee," or "bank charges" before their loans will be funded.

Needless to say, once they receive the fee, the lending outfit evaporates. "Anybody with an ounce of common sense, who really thinks it through, would wonder why anyone legitimate would lend them money sight unseen," Weiss says.

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Sad Story: "We had a lady who was asked to send $2,000 in order to get a promised $50,000 loan. She sent in $2,000 and when they realized they had a sucker on the line, they told her they needed $800 more. She sent the extra money and never heard from them again," Weiss recalls.

The Lesson: Don't send anyone money up front — ever.

4. The Scam: Work From Home
Whether it's doing medical billing, assembling dolls, or owning your own vending machines, promoters will promise to set you up in easy-to-master, no-education-required, home-based businessses. It's only after you've made an investment that you find out the business isn't so easy.

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Mastering medical-billing software (often full of glitches) doesn't help you attract physician clients; assembly kits are so complex they're impossible to complete in a timely manner; vending machines turn out to be in unprotected territories that are not well-serviced. "There are legitimate home-based business opportunities, but the devil is in the details, and there's a lot of over-promising here," Weiss says.

Sad Story: "The envelope-stuffing scam has been around forever, and it's a flat-out pyramid scheme. An ad in the newspaper attracts home-bound and disabled people by telling them they can make money at home stuffing envelopes. They send money in to get started, and what they get is a mailing list and a pitch they can send out asking other people for money to learn about stuffing envelopes," Weiss says.

The Lesson: Starting any business takes research, education, and hard work — it's never easy.

5. The Scam: Wealth-Building Seminars
Few people actually get richer, but many people get poorer attending these meetings, which are often held at hotels near airports. Would-be entrepreneurs, lured by "free tickets," often attend hoping to get business tips or money they can use to start their own companies.

At the seminars, business ideas such as stock-market or real-estate investing are "tree topped" — meaning they are treated superficially — followed by a heavy sales push for tapes, workbooks, and DVDs containing "secrets for success." "Few of the people in these seminars will get wealthy, but many of them will spend $2,000 to $5,000 on dense, poorly produced materials that don't contain any brilliant insights," Weiss says.

Sad Story: "Entrepreneurs have been known to spend their nest eggs on these seminars, when the only people guaranteed to get wealthy from them are the people running the workshops," says Weiss.

The Lesson: Search out the many free and low-cost resources available for entrepreneurial training and advice, starting with the has information about patent scams.

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