The Better Business Bureau of Eastern North Carolina just issued its 2009 Consumer Alerts, warning about companies offering bogus employment opportunities and services, seemingly tailored to appeal to folks desperate for jobs or credit. And they named names.

Talent 6 advertises “be a star!” and “live your dream!” Clients were told they could cancel their subscription — supposedly leads to scads of exciting reality shows, movies and modeling gigs — in two weeks if they weren’t satisfied. That changed to 90 days, and only if they weren’t contacted by a “director,” which would most likely be a Talent 6 employee. One woman said she was told her fee would be $4,500 to start. BBB said more than 125 complaints have been filed against the company.

The scams don’t just target people with dreams of Hollywood money, either.

Another one, calling themselves Advancement Solutions, advertised positions for body guards, special agents and prison transporters. When fees were paid for access to the information, and no actual jobs ever materialized, one of their representatives explained, “We are not a hiring company, only a headhunter service.”

Then there’s the credit card people who laugh at you.

Vertrue leaves a pre-recorded message using the name “Credit Card Services,” offering rates as low as 6.9 percent and asking interested parties to press “6.”

When a BBB representative played along, a person came on the line and said, “Are you holding for lower rates?”

The BBB rep said, “Yes, but first I have a couple questions. Is Credit Card Services the name of your company?”

The person chuckled on the other end and hung up.

Vertrue’s victims reported unauthorized charges and circular arguments about getting refunds. The company is also hard to keep track of, because they do business under at least 40 different names. More than 2,500 complaints have been filed.

New Hope Modifications asked for a $1,500 up-front fee to guarantee a loan modification approval. (Sometimes it’s $3,000.) The New Jersey company has more than 55 complaints.

Other ones to watch out for: The Internet Speedway, Accelerated Debt Relief and Debt Relief USA. BBB asks consumers with similar complaints to register them through their Web site at bbb.org.

Good economy or bad, all the old-fashioned adages still apply: Offers that ask for fees upfront, or sound too good to be true should be avoided or at least questioned. And if you can’t fathom how a company could legitimately profit off of “helping you,” they’re not helping you.

They’re hunting you.