How To Avoid Online Survey Scams
By Carlos Scarpero
If you are at least slightly internet savvy you should know that the World Wide Web is full of worldwide scams. Online surveys that pay cash can sometimes be no different. Doing surveys for cash is often times used to lure unsuspecting internet users.
There are hundreds of paid survey sites online and only handfuls of them are actually reputable sites. The scammer sites focus on stay at home moms who are looking to make a few extra dollars. What these stay at home moms don”t realize is, when they are signing up to take some surveys for cash, they could very well be signing up for bogus sites and end up losing money, getting phished, hacked, or otherwise ripped off.
These work from home and make money doing surveys online scams prey on the unsuspecting and scam them by some of the following ways:
First, there is the fee for joining. Some scam sites require you to pay money to make money. Some savvy users will recognize this as a rip off and X out of the site. Others, however, may not be privy to the ways of the scam artist’’s world. The fees are generally less than $50, but, the scam site promises the possibility to make hundreds of thousands of dollars by filling out surveys that any literate person could do themselves. Think about it, if it was feasible that anybody could make thousands, not just hundreds of thousands or dollars just by doing surveys, the roads would be empty because everybody would be home doing it. Why go through the 9 to 5 grind when you can click your way to a good salary?
These sites are generally careful and cover their tracks with the fine print which usually states that not everybody will make a lot of money or any money. Stay away from these sites at all costs. The chances of you making a hundred dollars or even breaking even with $50 is slim to none.
There are dozens of sites you can join that are reputable; however, you may only make a few bucks per survey completed. But, come on, really how hard is it to click your opinion? It’’s not; therefore, it isn”t feasible that someone would pay you thousands of dollars to do so.
Another scam to avoid is the cell phone scam. The site asks for your cell phone number to confirm your membership. Moments pass and you get a call on your cell. You may think nothing of it until you check your bill later and find a $4.95 charge! Most people overlook the charge on their bill; you should make sure you are checking your charges on your cell phone bill because these scammers are counting on you not to check it. Also, be careful of the text from the site that says you have won a prize. You get the text and it says to reply back to them. Once you reply they charge you for the text anywhere from $1 to $4. Do not give out your cell phone number to any website, especially the kinds we are talking about in this article.
The switcheroo scam involves having you participate in a survey and find you find yourself being directed to another site. The site you are redirected to will ask you to show an interest in a product or service by clicking yes or no. They ask you to do this to show support to their marketing partners. In reality, you are just wasting time and this “survey” will never end until you finally accept one of their offers. My mom fell prey to this once by clicking yes she had an interest in health insurance. What she got from this was tons of telemarketers calling her home offering her sky high insurance rates and asking for her social security number and bank account information.
If you are ever taking a survey and are directed to show interest in their marketing partners, stop what you are doing, X out of the site, and mark the incoming e-mails from them as spam
Providing your telephone number to any survey site, or most any other site is never a good idea. Another common scam found with online surveys is the phone bill scam. For example, you may have been offered the chance for a free issue of a magazine. You sign up to get the free magazine and to be billed later. What you don”t know is going to happen is this. They take your name, address, and phone number and then bill the entire year dollar amount to your phone bill. You didn”t read the fine print that says that by putting your name down you are authorizing them to bill your phone bill for the magazine. How these people sleep at night is beyond me.
The above are only 4 common scams that some of these paid online survey sites have. There are more scams to list, but, not the time to go through them all. These are just 4 of the basic warnings I can give you at this time. This should be more than enough to open your eyes to the risks involved with doing online surveys for cash. As mentioned prior, there are legitimate sites to make money online doing surveys. Just be careful of what you are doing, read the fine print, never pay a fee to make money, never give out your phone number, and if you are ever redirected in order to support the sites marketing partners you should exit the site immediately. Doing surveys online for free or doing online surveys for cash can be fun and safe, if you are using a reputable site that doesn”t do any of the above.
About The Author
For reviews of popular legitimate paid survey sites, visit <a href=”http://www.Take-Surveys-For-Money.net”
