How to Spot a Paid Survey Scam
Unfortunately for Web surfers, there are dozens of paid survey scams around the internet. Many of these scam sites look professional and legitimate when first looking them over. There are several strong signs of scam survey company however. These sites often offer "guaranteed income" to users and they do not list contact information. Survey scams are usually not approved by the Better Business Bureau and display checks or banking statements as "proof" of the income you can make through the service.
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Instructions
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Look for photos of checks and banking statements as proof of income made through the survey site. Survey scam sites will go to great lengths to prove that users can and do make money through their service. These alleged payment checks and banking statements can easily be faked by using advanced graphics software. A legitimate survey service would never display checks to prove their worth.
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Search for a legitimate address and telephone number on the survey site. If the site does not contain an address or only uses a P.O. box, it is almost certainly a scam. Likewise, if the site does not list a phone number you should not invest your time in their service.
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Check to see if the site has been approved by the Better Business Bureau. Any site approved by the consumer ratings agency would display the "BBB" logo on their website. If the site contains this logo, click on the icon to visit the survey site's profile on the Better Business Bureau website. The profile will contain a list of consumer complaints filed against the service through the BBB. The Better Business Bureau will also provide a letter grade for the overall performance of the company.
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Search for any promises of "guaranteed income" throughout the survey site. No legitimate survey company will offer users any guarantees that they will make money. Any paid survey site that promises users will make a specific amount of money should be completely disregarded.
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Tips & Warnings
If your are still not sure if the survey site is real, do some research on the site through search engines, blogs, and forums that let you know if the survey site is a scam or not.
For additional info and survey sites that are actually scam-free, check out the links on the Resources panel.
Other than paid survey sites, there are also "paid offer sites" that pay you for signing up for offers using advertisement. These are often mistaken to be survey sites but they function the same way as being paid per offer. A few of these sites can be trusted, but there are some that a legitimate and use both surveys and offers in their site.
References
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
