Watch out for sneaky ads on social-networking sites

Social-networking sites are all the rage these days, as tens of millions of consumers look to reconnect, stay in touch, and share personal details about our lives in ways most of us could never have imagined just a few years ago.

Facebook alone has signed up more than 175 million members since its founding in 2005. In February, users spent an average of 3 billion minutes a day on the site, updating their status 15 million times, according to eMarketer. With gaudy traffic like that, it's easy to understand why advertisers plan to spend an estimated $1.3 billion to court this lucrative new audience.

With so much money at stake, it shouldn't come as a surprise that some ads on social-networking sites are misleading at best, according to our watchdog colleagues at the Better Business Bureau.

"People need to use extreme caution and read the fine print before handing over their credit card information to an online advertiser. Just because an ad appears on a Web site they trust, it doesn't mean they can always trust the advertisers," says BBB spokesman Steve Cox. "One of the big red flags we're seeing is ads that link to blog platforms designed to look like a personal testimonial from a satisfied customer. In our experience, if an ad takes you to a blog, it's best to hit the back button immediately."

Here are some of the ads the BBB says illustrate the various trickery. 

The Pitch: Lose 4 Dress Sizes

In January, BBB issued a warning to consumers about online ads and Web sites that use Oprah's name to sell acai berry supplements as weight-loss miracles. Despite the warning, these ads are still common on Facebook and MySpace, and link to fake blogs such as www.jennylosesweight.com that are designed to look like testimonials of women who lost weight by taking the supplements. Recent research by the Center for Science in the Public Interest identified more than 75 different phony blogs that led to Web sites touting acai-berry supplements as a weight loss miracle. 

The Fine Print: The phony blogs link to Web sites that offer a free trial of an acai supplement, and while the customer may think they only have to pay shipping, they could get billed as much as $87.13 every month if they don't cancel before the trial period ends. The fine print also explains that the trial period begins from the moment the customer orders the supplements and not after they receive the shipment.  

The experts advise: Not only do health experts question the legitimacy of the weight loss claims linked to the acai berry, BBB has received thousands of complaints from consumers against such acai supplement companies because many were billed despite never receiving their free trial or were billed every month despite numerous attempts to cancel.  

The Pitch: Learn How I Make $67,000 a Year Being a Stay-at-Home Mom! 

One of the oldest tricks in the book advises consumers how to make oodles of easy money from home. Like the acai berry ads, the work-from-home ads link to blogs that were supposedly created by people who made money through a work-at-home program. One such blog, written by a "Sarah Roberts," claims that she added "$67,000 a year to my family's income working 10 hours a week (that's over $128 an hour!)" by creating Web sites that host Google ads.

The Fine Print: The blogs direct readers to Web sites for programs such as Internet Money Machine and Easy Google Cash where they can sign up for a seven-day trial access to information on how to make money from home. While the free trial supposedly only costs $1.95 to $2.95, the individual will be charged $69.90 every month if they don't cancel seven days from signing up. The fine print also states that the company does not give refunds.

The experts advise: Use extreme caution when signing up for a work-at-home job or money-making opportunity online. In 2008 alone, BBB received more than 3,500 complaints from people who signed up for offers to learn how to work from home but were ultimately disappointed. Job hunters should also be aware that while some work-at-home opportunities have the word "Google" in their name and use Google's logo on their Web sites, they are not actually affiliated with Google.

The Pitch: Get a Free Purple (or red, pink, green, or black) MacBook

Maybe you've seen this one for a free MacBook Air from a company that's claiming that the company is seeking laptop testers. The ads lead to an incentive marketing program at a particular Web address where participants must sign up for various products and services in order to earn their free laptop.  

The Fine Print: Customers must complete two options from each of the three tiers -- Top, Prime, and Premium -- before receiving their "free" MacBook. Example offers listed in the Top and Prime tiers include signing up for credit cards or trial offers for subscription services such as for vitamin supplements or DVD rental services. In some cases, the participant will need to pay for shipping, and if they aren't vigilant about canceling the trial offers they signed up for, they'll begin being billed every month. Some of the "Premium" offers listed on the Web site that must be met in order to get the MacBook are incredibly expensive, for instance, paying $1,500 for furniture. 

The experts advise: Incentive programs can be extremely costly in the long run and the fine print shows that the customer might have to pay a significant amount of money in order to get their "free" stuff. It's also a red flag that Apple doesn't even make the MacBook Air in purple, red, pink, or green, the BBB says.