Twitter – Target For Scammers

There are many scams and frauds making their way through the world of Twitter. They are not necessarily new, but have found a new environment, and more potential victims.

The best way to protect yourself from these scams is the same as it has always been - be alert, be suspicious and stop looking for the easy money.

Work from home offers have been popping up on Twitter. Ignore these. While there a few legitimate ways to make money from home, you will have to discover those on your own. Nobody is going to hand you that opportunity so easily.

Mystery shopping jobs are also being offered. These are very alluring offers, as they have a sound of legitimacy. You go shopping and then report the results of your “customer experience.” Often, you are promised compensation plus you get to keep what you bought. You will most often find that these offers require you to pay some money up front. That should be a big red flag. How many employers do you know that require you to pay them first? If you read the fine print, many of these offers are to show you how to become a mystery shopper, not to actually provide you a paying job.

A recent scam that been reported is an app that will reveal to you who has been stalking you on Twitter. Clicking those links will compromise your account security.

The best defense is to ignore these unsolicited tweets. If you do not know the sender, do not click on links. Do not initiate contact with the sender and do not send money or provide personal information.

Michael Tabman