BBB sees rise in Pay-to-Tweet scams

A warning to all you job hunters out there: The Better Business Bureau reports a spike in the work at home, get-rich-quick schemes being offered through the social-networking site Twitter.

The scams are similar to the classic Web and e-mail offers. Sites claim you can make loads of money, with little effort, and no experience, as long as you pay for an informative CD—as featured on the fill-in-the-blank nationally syndicated television show—that will reveal the mystery of making thousands of dollars a month.

According to the BBB, the purported offers being posted by companies on Twitter promise to pay users hundreds of dollars a day to be professional “Tweeters”—the name for a person who uses Twitter. “‘Make Money With Twitter’ schemes may sound risk-free but bear many red flags,” according to the BBB.

By posting links into a standard Tweet, users are lead to a site that looks like Twitter, offers money for using Twitter, but has nothing to do with Twitter. Some of these companies, like EasyTweetProfits.com, ask for an upfront fee for a CD. Others require a trial-period of service, like TwitterProfitHouse.com, and then charge users $100 a month for access unless the user calls and cancels after the trial ends.

A spokesperson for TwitterProfitHouse.com claims it’s not running a scam, since all the details of the business are outlined in the terms and conditions, which is available for all to see.

Since the BBB’s announcement, TwitterProfitHouse.com has temporarily stopped the marketing of its CDs.

Given how new the sites are, the BBB is expecting an influx of complaints by unsuspecting takers.

The lessons here are the same as on the rest of the Web: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And if you’re planning to make a purchase of any kind using a credit card, don’t blindly follow a link that is sent to you; make sure you’re buying from a trustworthy business, then verify the URL and type it into your browser yourself. —Will Dilella