The hype is familiar: “Make $9000 a Month Taking FREE Surveys”, “$50 Paid for Each Free Survey You Complete”, Survey Companies Pay $200 per hour” — and on and on and on.
Anyone who’s gone online to find extra income opportunities probably recognizes these types of absurd claims. They’re everywhere you look However, it’s more than a little far fetched to believe that you can become a millionaire simply by telling some marketing company if you prefer a PC or a Mac or whether you would rather eat pizza or fried chicken.
Yes, as you probably guessed, the vast majority of these so-called “Free” survey offers are nothing but scams. Avoid them – or at least use extreme caution when responding to the ads.
Please note that there are authentic paid survey opportunities out there. They do indeed pay consumers to express their opinions of various services and products. It’s quite enjoyable to be paid just to test a new product or eat for free at a restaurant and then be paid for it!
Unfortunately, finding these legitimate opportunities can be quite difficult and very time consuming.
The scam sites are, of course, extremely easy to find. Promising just about anything to get you to sign up, their ads shout “FREE” at you every chance they get. They spend huge amounts of money to make sure that their ads are in front of you as often as possible.
Free things are quite often worth every penny you spend on them! You may ask yourself, if it’s free then what’s really in it for them? Would they really spend money advertising their free offer just out of the goodness of their hearts? Hardly!
You can encounter three high risk dangers when responding to “Free” Paid Survey offers:
1. SPAM: Legitimate survey companies really do need to collect certain personal information from you in order to assemble demographic data, to stay in touch with you, and to pay you. Knowing this, the scam artists know that they can ask for the same information without looking suspicious. Some scam survey sites are set up just to collect names, addresses, and email addresses which they then sell to spammers and other off line “junk” mailers.
2. CREDIT CARD FRAUD: If the free survey site requires you to enroll in “introductory offers” in order to participate in their paid surveys, you are probably looking at a scam. Unsuspecting people have been known to enroll in dozens – even hundreds – of these offers without ever earning a penny from a single survey. You may be told, or even encouraged, to then “cancel” your order within a certain period of time so that your credit card will not be charged. However, it is common for your cancellation request to be delayed or not processed at all, resulting in unwanted charges on your card.
3. IDENTITY THEFT: Honest survey companies do need your personal information, including your social security number, in order to hire you to perform legitimate work. This is because the Internal Revenue Service requires that they must send you a 1099 tax form if they pay you more than $600 per year. Therefore, it is critical that you know what type of company you are dealing with. Armed with your personal information, scammers may attempt to steal your identity.
So, the question is, “How can I determine if a survey site is legitimate or not?”
– You will NEVER be asked to provide credit card information as a prerequisite for enrolling in legitimate paid survey programs.
– Be cautious when responding to ads that promise free access to paid surveys, especially if the offer sounds too good to be true. Most legitimate survey companies do not advertise heavily, if they advertise at all.
– There are a number of sites on the internet that screen the thousands of paid survey programs that are available. They then publish reviews of those offers that they have found to be legitimate. You may want to make use of them. Registering with these review sites may cost a few dollars at first but it may be money well spent if it helps you to avoid the scam artists.
Participating in paid survey programs can be a fun way to generate extra income if you want, or need, to work from home. You won’t make millions but you can supplement your income so that you can enjoy those little “extras” that you may not otherwise be able to afford.