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Twitter is a Breeding Ground for Scams

09 July 2009 | social-media | 0 Comment

twitter addiction

You knew this was coming…

If you’ve ever had an email address and had Prince Abdulla contact you offering to pay you $5k if you transfer some money for him or been told you can work from home and make six figures per year just by buying a starter kit, you know how the online scam world operates.

It took longer than I expected, but Twitter has become a breeding ground for scams much like those that hit your email spam box or call your phone with private numbers.

Better Business Bureau points fingers

BBB has issued a warning to everyone about Twitter scams:

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.

How not to fall victim:

If you’re contacted in any medium be it via Twitter, the phone, a fax or a salesperson in the mall, if it sounds too good to be true, it is.  Most scams involve you making yourself vulnerable in some way whether giving your SSN or bank account number and you can be very damaged.  If something is questionable, ask others on Twitter what they think and ALWAYS trust your instinct if it’s telling you to run.

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