Beware of survey web sites which ask you to pay a joining fee, these are usually scams and the likelihood is that you will lose more money than you earn. Do not respond to spam emails or pop up ads promising big sums and awesome prizes, these are 9 times out of 10 scams. Instead, stick to trusted sites like Get-Paid and always do some background checks before giving your info to a new site or taking part in a survey from a new source. If a site is legit and the company can be trusted, it will have customer reviews to back it up. Generally, online survey scams can be broken down into four groups.
Sites that fool you into parting with money for nothing. Never pay a website membership fee or training fee.
The survey is a front for obtaining your name and other details (such as income and hobbies). Your info will then be given to many different businesses and you will be inundated by offers, either from the company you first contacted or by other marketing companies to which they sold your details. Your details will be used for identity theft. Scam artists can draw up a detailed picture of you from the information you provide, especially if you've also given credit card or bank details to pay them for their service. The 2016 Identity Fraud report stated that,
'The number of identity theft incidents increased by one million more consumers over the past year, and the dollar amount stolen increased to $21 billion, a three-year high.'
The fake survey is a cover for an advance fee scam. You will be sent a fake payment cheque for taking part and then required to give part of your "payment" to someone else.
