Connecticut Better Business warns against Twitter-based money-making schemes

PR Log (Press Release) – Jul 29, 2009 – Through Twitter.com “tweet” messages, e-mails and other Web sites, job-hunters are being told they can make big money from the comfort of their home.  Better Business Bureau, however, warns fine print reveals the offers may not be what they appear to be.

Work-at-home schemes have touted a number of ways of making money by sending e-mails or placing ads on Google, but a new twist has emerged targeting cash-strapped Americans, saying they can make money through the Twitter real-time messaging service.

Connecticut Better Business Bureau President, Paulette Scarpetti, says “make money with Twitter” schemes may sound risk-free, however there are red flags that prompt BBB to advise extreme caution with these offers.

“One e-mail states ‘Twitter Workers Needed ASAP, You’re Hired! Make Extra Cash with Twitter; As seen on USA Today, CNN and ABC…Apply Now!’  Like other work-at-home offers however, this scheme uses fake testimonials and can end up costing money, rather than earning it.”

The e-mail links to a Surrey, England-based company Web site called EasyTweetProfits.com, that claims you can make between $250 and $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 fine print is that the seven day period begins the day the CD is ordered – not when it is received – and if consumers don’t cancel within seven days of signing up, they are charged $47 dollars every month.

Phony blogs, such as Make-money-on-twitter.com feature testimonials about the success of Twitter-based work, and even a photo of a check supposedly received by the blogger for posting links to Twitter.  This same photo has been used on other fake blogs for various suspect work-at-home schemes.

Similar Web sites claim earnings of up to $873 a day working at home, offer a similar seven-day trial and CD, and if consumers don’t cancel within seven days of ordering, they are charged $99.99 every month. New Web sites pop-up regularly and it is only as matter of time before complaints start coming in.

BBB warns job seekers to watch for several warning signs when searching for a work-at-home opportunity online:

*Upfront payment is required to be considered for the job or receive additional information.

*The “job” is actually a money-making scheme that doesn’t provide actual employment.

*The offer claims job hunters can make a great deal of money with little effort and no experience.

*The same offer appears on different Web sites or is posted by many different tweeters.  Links in such tweets may lead the visitor to scam sites or install malware on a computer to steal valuable personal information.