Read the fine print or
risk getting burned with Twitter work-at-home offers
Through Tweets, e-mail and Web sites, job
hunters are being told that they can make lots of money from the comfort of
home using Twitter and Better Business Bureau warns that the large print for such
offers may promise big returns but the fine print can cost them every month.
Currently 14.5 million Americans are out of
work and looking for a way to bring home a paycheck according to the most
recent jobs report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Work-at-home
schemes have often preyed on unsuspecting job hunters and now Twitter is being
used as a way to convince cash-strapped individuals that they can make quick
and easy money.
“Twitter is the newest bright shiny object
online and a perfect hook for yet another work-at-home scheme,” said Frank
Whitney CEO of the MidCal BBB. “The pitch used to be about making money by
sending e-mails or by placing ads on Google but now cash-strapped job hunters
need to be wary of shelling out money for a dubious scheme that revolves around
Twitter.”
Unfortunately, such “Make Money With
Twitter” schemes may sound risk-free but bear many red flags prompting BBB to
advise job hunters to be extremely cautious.
One e-mail picked up by BBB stated: “Twitter
Workers Needed ASAP, You're Hired! Make Extra Cash with Twitter; As seen on USA
Today, CNN, and ABC... Apply Now!”
The e-mail links to EasyTweetProfits.com, a
company out of Surrey, England. EasyTweetProfits.com
claims you can make $250-$873 a day working at home with Twitter. The Web site offers
a seven-day free trial of their instructional CD-ROM for $1.95 to cover
shipping. Buried in the lengthy terms and conditions are the details that the
trial begins on the day the CD is ordered—not when it is received—and if the
consumer doesn’t cancel within seven days of signing up, they’ll be charged $47
every month.
Similar to other work-from-home schemes,
phony blogs by made-up individuals have been created as testimonials to the
success of Twitter-money-making programs. Make-money-on-twitter.com is one such
phony blog—supposedly by a Derrick Clark of Virginia—where the author brags
about making up to $5,000 a month posting links to Twitter. The blog also includes
an image of the supposed check Derrick received for posting links on Twitter,
but the exact same photo of the check has been used countless times on other
phony blogs for various suspect work-at-home jobs.
The blog links to TwitterProfitHouse.com
which, similar to EasyTweetProfits.com, claims you can make $250-$873 a day
working at home and offers a seven-day free trial of their instructional
CD-ROM, for $1.99 shipping. Again, however, reading the fine print shows that
the trial period starts once the CD has been ordered and the consumer will be
billed $99.99 every month if they don’t call the company to cancel.
“These Web sites have not been up for very
long so, if experience has taught us anything, we know that it’s only a matter
of time before the complaints start coming in,” added Whitney. “Work-at-home
schemes are like a game of wack-a-mole and new Web sites crop up practically
every day.”
BBB wants job hunters to be aware of the
following red flags when searching for a work-at-home job online:
- The
“job” is actually a money-making scheme and doesn’t provide actual
employment.
- The
work-at-home scheme claims that you can make lots of money with little
effort and no experience.
- You
have to pay money upfront in order to be considered for the job or receive
more information.
- The
exact same tweet touting the program is posted by many different
Twitterers. The links in such
tweets could lead you to scam sites or install malware onto your computer.