By Carole Anderson for Work-at-Home.org
“Get Paid for Your Opinion”, “Fill out Simple Reports for $2000 a week”. “Survey Companies pay $100 per hour”. “Top Ten Ranked Survey Jobs, Get Paid $30 per Survey”. Yada yada yada.
Anytime you’ve got thousands of websites feeding on your surfing like sharks in a pool of fish, you gotta wonder why.
To hear these paid survey sites tell it, you can become a millionaire by simply telling some big company whether you like pink shoes or green, whether you prefer butter pecan ice cream or vanilla bean delight.
As always, it’s a scam. Don’t fall for it. Here’s what you need to know.
First of all, there really are legitimate websites and companies out there that genuinely hire people to mystery shop, scope out customer service reps or to give opinions about ice cream and shoes. They’re really out there and it really is FUN to get paid to go out to eat, go to a movie, test a new product that nobody else has seen, or tattle on a mean customer service rep at some big company and get paid a handsome fee for it. You can find these types of jobs by very CAREFULLY surfing the net yourself or by using a service that pre-screens all work at home jobs and publishes only scam-free work at home jobs like www.jobsformoms.com.
But the scam sites are the easy to find, and free. They spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year making sure their scammy little ads are right in front of your eyes, making promises they can’t keep. These websites are “FREE” and they’ll do just about anything to lure you in.
But why? What’s in it for them if they’re FREE?
There are three really dangerous risks you take whenever you respond to ANY “FREE” PAID SURVEY SITE:
1. You risk your name, address and other information being used and widely abused on the internet. They will require that you give them this information. Some of these sites are designed purely to get your name, address and email address for spamming.
2. Many of these sites will require you to register or enroll in introductory offers, saying that it is required for you to do the surveys. Some people enroll in HUNDREDS of these offers without getting paid to do a single survey. They claim you can ‘cancel’ before your credit card gets charged, but surprise! Lots of times the cancellation doesn’t take effect and you get unwanted charges on your credit card. Avoid the whole thing by NEVER, EVER giving your credit card number to a paid survey site! (A legitimate mystery shopping or survey company will NEVER require your credit card.)
3. Identify theft. Some of these sites are reportedly set up just to get your personal information, make unauthorized charges to your account, and disappear. Some of these may also try to get your social security number for even more destruction to your identity.
It is imperative that you know what type of company you’re dealing with because honest mystery shopping and survey companies will also require your personal information and social security number in order to hire you for LEGITIMATE work. The IRS requires that if they pay you $600 or more per year, they must issue a 1099 to you reflecting your income. For this reason they must have your social security number and other information.
So how do you know if a company is legitimate or not and if it’s safe (or not) to give them your social security number?
First, it is important to know that most REAL mystery shopping companies don’t advertise and they will NEVER ask for your credit card number. You won’t find dirty little ads for these companies all over the internet. To be safe, you can use a scam-eliminating service like those mentioned in this article.
If you don't want to use a service like that and you'd prefer to brave the internet yourself, let's repeat this important information:
A REAL survey or mystery shopping job will never require your credit card number and they don't advertise all over the place.
A REAL survey or mystery shopping job will never require your credit card number and they don't advertise all over the place.
A REAL survey or mystery shopping job will never require your credit card number and they don't advertise all over the place.
(Forgive me. I’m trying to build up your resistance to all those tempting but dangerous little ads.)
So if you do see an aggressive little ad for “free” paid surveys…or “top ranked” paid surveys, or “Top 10 Paid Survey Sites”… understand that they are probably not the real thing. The real thing is listed at the scam-free work at home job websites listed in this article or doing business quietly and honorably somewhere in America without aggressive advertising.
By the way, do you prefer pink shoes or green?
Carole Anderson is a business consultant and Contributing Writer for Work-at-Home.org.
REPRINT FREE: You are welcome to reprint this article at your site free as long as links and credits remain in tact.
Copyright 2007 Work-at-Home.org
“Get Paid for Your Opinion”, “Fill out Simple Reports for $2000 a week”. “Survey Companies pay $100 per hour”. “Top Ten Ranked Survey Jobs, Get Paid $30 per Survey”. Yada yada yada.
Anytime you’ve got thousands of websites feeding on your surfing like sharks in a pool of fish, you gotta wonder why.
To hear these paid survey sites tell it, you can become a millionaire by simply telling some big company whether you like pink shoes or green, whether you prefer butter pecan ice cream or vanilla bean delight.
As always, it’s a scam. Don’t fall for it. Here’s what you need to know.
First of all, there really are legitimate websites and companies out there that genuinely hire people to mystery shop, scope out customer service reps or to give opinions about ice cream and shoes. They’re really out there and it really is FUN to get paid to go out to eat, go to a movie, test a new product that nobody else has seen, or tattle on a mean customer service rep at some big company and get paid a handsome fee for it. You can find these types of jobs by very CAREFULLY surfing the net yourself or by using a service that pre-screens all work at home jobs and publishes only scam-free work at home jobs like www.jobsformoms.com.
But the scam sites are the easy to find, and free. They spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year making sure their scammy little ads are right in front of your eyes, making promises they can’t keep. These websites are “FREE” and they’ll do just about anything to lure you in.
But why? What’s in it for them if they’re FREE?
There are three really dangerous risks you take whenever you respond to ANY “FREE” PAID SURVEY SITE:
1. You risk your name, address and other information being used and widely abused on the internet. They will require that you give them this information. Some of these sites are designed purely to get your name, address and email address for spamming.
2. Many of these sites will require you to register or enroll in introductory offers, saying that it is required for you to do the surveys. Some people enroll in HUNDREDS of these offers without getting paid to do a single survey. They claim you can ‘cancel’ before your credit card gets charged, but surprise! Lots of times the cancellation doesn’t take effect and you get unwanted charges on your credit card. Avoid the whole thing by NEVER, EVER giving your credit card number to a paid survey site! (A legitimate mystery shopping or survey company will NEVER require your credit card.)
3. Identify theft. Some of these sites are reportedly set up just to get your personal information, make unauthorized charges to your account, and disappear. Some of these may also try to get your social security number for even more destruction to your identity.
It is imperative that you know what type of company you’re dealing with because honest mystery shopping and survey companies will also require your personal information and social security number in order to hire you for LEGITIMATE work. The IRS requires that if they pay you $600 or more per year, they must issue a 1099 to you reflecting your income. For this reason they must have your social security number and other information.
So how do you know if a company is legitimate or not and if it’s safe (or not) to give them your social security number?
First, it is important to know that most REAL mystery shopping companies don’t advertise and they will NEVER ask for your credit card number. You won’t find dirty little ads for these companies all over the internet. To be safe, you can use a scam-eliminating service like those mentioned in this article.
If you don't want to use a service like that and you'd prefer to brave the internet yourself, let's repeat this important information:
A REAL survey or mystery shopping job will never require your credit card number and they don't advertise all over the place.
A REAL survey or mystery shopping job will never require your credit card number and they don't advertise all over the place.
A REAL survey or mystery shopping job will never require your credit card number and they don't advertise all over the place.
(Forgive me. I’m trying to build up your resistance to all those tempting but dangerous little ads.)
So if you do see an aggressive little ad for “free” paid surveys…or “top ranked” paid surveys, or “Top 10 Paid Survey Sites”… understand that they are probably not the real thing. The real thing is listed at the scam-free work at home job websites listed in this article or doing business quietly and honorably somewhere in America without aggressive advertising.
By the way, do you prefer pink shoes or green?
Carole Anderson is a business consultant and Contributing Writer for Work-at-Home.org.
REPRINT FREE: You are welcome to reprint this article at your site free as long as links and credits remain in tact.
Copyright 2007 Work-at-Home.org
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