By Dan Mitchell, MLM Blog Correspondent
We're seeing more and more work from home scams preying upon people who legitimately want to work from home. Beware!
From The Chicago Tribune:
Jerald Marshall was searching for jobs online when he came across an ad for a Google work-at-home business. The ad featured a "Chicago Tribune News" story about Mike Steadman, a college drop-out from North Carolina, who was earning buckets of money placing links on the Google Web site.
"I get paid about $25 for every link I post on Google and I get paid every week," the story said. "I make around $10,500 a month right now."
But something about the story didn't seem right to Marshall. When he checked with the real Chicago Tribune, he learned the story was bogus. Experts say the ad is part of a growing trend on the Internet: companies using fake stories that co-opt the names of respected news organizations and other firms to gain credibility for their work-at-home business schemes. They dupe consumers into believing they are trusted companies with good reputations.
"It's a pandemic problem across the Internet. There are so many fake Web sites with the BBB seal as well," said Steve Bernas, president and chief executive of the Better Business Bureau of Chicago and Northern Illinois. "If [consumers] see that it's supposedly endorsed by a newspaper, they think it's true. They think there's no need to check it out because [the news organization] did."
Business Kit for Google, the business behind the ad, didn't return a phone call on Tuesday. By Wednesday, the company attached to the Web link had changed its name to Google Fortune and the name of the publication in the ad was now the New York Tribune News. Again, phone calls weren't returned.
