After several months of studying online survey sites, I discovered a disturbing pattern. Even the most reputable survey sites are risky. The truth is, surveys are a lousy way to make money.
Are Online Surveys a Scam? Yes, most online surveys are scams. The worst are those promising you can make a lot of money. That’s an absolute lie.
It’s impossible to earn a lot of money doing surveys. Most people don’t make any money at all with surveys.
In this article, I reveal several of the ways online survey sites scam you. Some of their methods are so subtle as to be almost invisible, other methods are far more noticeable, like getting your credit card maxed out or your identity stolen.
I explain all this in detail in a moment, but for now, let’s talk about greed. More often than not, when it comes to online scams, it is our greed that gets us in trouble.
Just for fun, play along with me as I take you on an imaginary adventure.
It begins with you, broke and struggling. It happens. I’ve been there more than once.
You need cash, so you go online searching for ways to make money and find a website that promises you can make $75 per survey.
Wow! $75 per survey! Immediately, that greedy spot in your brain heats up. You take out a calculator. What if you did ten surveys a day and worked five days a week? That’s $3,700 a week, $15,000 a month, $180,000 a year! If you worked six days a week, you’d earn $216,000 a year!
You think I could live on that.
Suddenly the future looks bright. You’re not depressed anymore. You decide to trade your clunker 1976 Yugo with bald tires in for a Lamborghini and a new girlfriend.
Whoa! Hold on, partner! Do you see what just happened? You went full tilt into fantasy land.
Greed is one of our most powerful emotions.
When we feel greed, the logical part of our brain shuts down. At that point, it’s impossible for us to make a good decision and it becomes highly probable that we will make a stupid mistake.
Salespeople know this. Advertisers know this. Copywriters know this and casinos know this too. It’s why they relentlessly pound our greed buttons to make us buy stuff we don’t need and can’t afford or to gamble away the rent money.
Scammers know this too. Scams begin with greed.
When a survey website promises you’ll make a lot of money, you know it’s a scam. Most survey sites don’t pay anything at all and the ones that do pay only pennies.
There are two types of survey sites online. The first type is the “so-called” legitimate research company that genuinely seeks market information. The legitimate research survey sites are few and far between.
The second type of online survey site is a marketing company that uses the deception of surveys to get you to buy products and services or to get your personal information which they sell to other marketing companies who then try to sell you stuff.
Both types of survey sites pose risks.
How Much Can You Earn with Online Surveys?
Not much.
So-called legitimate research oriented survey sites usually do not pay cash. Instead, they have a point system and give points for each survey or task completed to their satisfaction.
These points have no cash value.
Once you have accumulated the minimum points, you may be able to use these points to purchase something from the site’s catalog or to get a gift card.
However, most “legitimate” online survey sites offer only sweepstakes. That is after you have accumulated the minimum points, you are entered into sweepstakes where you are eligible to win a prize or cash.
That’s about as good as it gets.
With the other type of online survey site, the marketing company pretending to be a survey site, you won’t make anything at all. In fact, you will probably lose money.
Both types of online survey sites can terminate your membership at any time for no reason. It is common for online survey websites to terminate a member’s account just before they reach the minimum payout amount, thus avoiding paying them anything.
Positive Reviews of Survey Sites.
Many survey websites, especially the scammy ones, offer a bounty for new members. Every positive review I’ve read about a survey site has an affiliate link in it. If you click on that link and join the survey site, the reviewer earns a commission.
A positive review about a survey site is usually nothing more than a sneaky sales pitch.
How to Spot a Survey Scam.
Instead of listing known scam survey sites which often change, I think it is more helpful to show you how to spot a survey scam.
I’ll begin with the mildly evil scam and progress to the full-blown ruin your life scam.
The Email Address Thief Scam.
Some sites pretending to be an online survey company are only after your email address. You join by giving them your name and email address, and that’s the end of it.
You never hear from them again because they got what they wanted and have sold your email address far and wide across the internet. A tsunami of spam is on its way to your inbox.
A variation of this is to ask for your phone number too, in which case, in addition to a relentless barrage of spam in your inbox, you will also be treated to annoying telemarketers calling you at all hours of the day and night.
The Qualifying Survey Scam.
Many of the “so-called” legitimate survey sites use this trick to avoid paying for the information you give them.
Before you can take a survey, you must fill out a questionnaire to determine if you qualify for that survey. After you fill out the questionnaire, you discover you do not qualify for the survey and so do not earn any points.
There never was a survey. Or, more accurately, the questionnaire WAS the survey. The survey company got the information they wanted without paying for it.
The Trial Offers Scam.
A marketing company pretending to be a survey company presents a survey for you to complete. After you complete the survey, you are directed to participate in a free trial and promised you will earn some cash if you do.
For the sake of this example, let’s say you are promised $10 for participating in the free trial.
You sign up for the free trial which requires that you give them your credit card information. Because you don’t want your credit card to be charged, you try to cancel the free trial before your card is billed.
At this point, several things might happen. You find you can’t cancel in time because the survey company prevents you from canceling and your card is billed. Or, you do cancel in time but are not paid the $10 because the fine print says you will only be paid if the trial offer results in a purchase.
The survey/marketing company is paid a commission the moment you sign up for a trial offer. If your trial offer converts to a sale, the survey/marketing company makes a bigger commission.
If they pay you the promised $10, it is a small percentage of the commission they made off of you. In other words, you spent a $100 and they gave you back $10. That’s not making money.
In most cases, they won’t pay you anything at all. Remember, the survey you filled out when you started down this scammy path was just a ploy to get you to the trial offer.
The Fake Points Scam.
You joined a survey site, completed a survey and were awarded 20,000 points immediately. You’re rich in points! That was easy.
You are eligible to redeem these points for products in the company catalog. Looking through the company’s online catalog, you find a digital camera for 18,000 points, plus $4.99 for shipping. You’ve seen that exact camera at the mall for $100.
You can’t believe it and call the number to redeem your points and get the camera. Easy peasy. You give them your credit card info to cover the $4.99 shipping charge.
ScamAvenger Girl, says “Thumbs Down!”
A week later, the camera arrives, and all is well. You brag to your friends about the deal you got.
And then, about a month later, the credit card bill comes in the mail, and there is a $98 charge from this company on it. You call the credit card company as there must be some mistake.
There is no mistake.
Somewhere in your blind excitement about getting the camera, you unknowingly agreed to join a buyer’s club for $98 a month for two years! There’s nothing you can do about it. Your credit card will be billed $98 a month for the next 24 months. Ouch!
Loss of Personal Information.
The scammy online survey companies will blatantly steal your personal information, but there is a risk with the “so-called” legitimate survey companies too.
There is no guarantee that the information you give a survey company is safe.
In the ‘Terms and Conditions,’ and in the ‘Privacy Policy’ of every online survey site, you will find a paragraph that says you use the site at your own risk and that the safety of your personal information is not guaranteed.
Are Surveys Safe? Are Online Surveys Worth It?
Forget the bogus promises of making $75 per survey. That’s a lie.
At best, with a “so-called” legitimate survey site that pays cash, you might earn $10 month if you work hard at completing a lot of surveys.
The truth is you probably won’t receive enough surveys to earn that much, or you won’t qualify for enough surveys to earn that much, but let’s say you do.
You earn $10 a month. That’s the best scenario.
Is it worth $10 a month to compromise your privacy?
The worst case scenario is your identity is stolen, and your credit card is maxed out. That sort of thing could destroy your life.
Online surveys are horribly time-consuming, risky and pay nothing. If you want to make money online, learn how to do it right.
If you are researching online surveys because you want to find a legitimate way to make money online, I recommend that you consider affiliate marketing. If you get the proper training and support, affiliate marketing can be extremely profitable.
Affiliate marketing is not difficult. However, like any legitimate business, it does require commitment and patience to be successful.
Also, if you signup for the FREE starter level of the Online Entrepreneur Certification Course through any link on this website, I’ll coach you one-on-one for FREE.
I’ve used a couple different survey sites in the past, but now I completely stay away from them. There’s simply not enough profit potential for them to be worth it. Not only that, but there’s usually a screener that needs to be filled out before every survey that decides whether or not you even “qualify” for it – and that’s time you’re not getting paid for. There are a number of better options for earning a solid income online.
Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your first hand account of online surveys. That screener survey you mention is often the information the survey company wants, but will not pay for.
If someone wanted to make money online, I recommend Wealthy Affiliate. It’s where I learned to earn a full-time income online.
Gary this is a brilliant article and I hope this goes viral… I am so on board with you on all of the points you mentioned here.
There are a few legitimate survey sites but they are so hard to find in between all the rubbish and scams. I have been with one survey site in my country now for about 5 years and they are legitimate. I am also with Clixsense and I quite like them, they have some surveys as well as pay to click.
Other than those two I have found ptc and survey sites mostly a waste of time and energy.
I have found myself spammed no end after trying to sign up and do surveys with loads of websites.
Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your kind words. I’ve heard good things about Clixsense too, but haven’t researched them. They’re on my list.
Like you mentioned, there are just so many awful survey sites out there. I’ve been scammed and spammed to death by them as well. And, the legitimate sites really don’t pay much at all, certainly not enough to live on.
That’s why I recommend people build their own online business. It’s not difficult and the potential income is phenomenal. I made a short cartoon video that shows how easy it is to get started.
Enjoyed reading the website even though it made me hang my head in shame. Yes, guilty as charged, I was a gullible online survey participant.
Luckily, I only lost my self respect and not a wad of cash.
I think the message came over well and the lead into the product was well thought out.
Lots of good information.
Thanks for stopping by. Yes, I’ve been taken by online survey scams too. Unfortunately, it’s part of trying the make money online adventure for many people.
This is a very informative, well-written article, Gary. I learned so much that I never new about the danger and waste of time with online surveys. Thank you for taking the time to really highlight the core issue-greed-that most people struggle with leads them to these deceptive surveys. It was a great point. I would like to maybe see you elaborate a bit more at the end of the article about how you can earn money through your own business. Great article and your hard work in researching all this info really shows!
Thanks for taking the time to comment. Thanks too for you kind and encouraging words.
Yes, for many of us, greed is our weakest link. It helps to be aware that this is how scammers draw us into their trap.
I appreciate your interest in making money online the right way. Watch this short video to learn how to build a legitimate online business that can pay a full-time income.
I absolutely love that video and it explained everything so well to me…actually, I’ve been looking into a lot of survey sites as well – some of them seem better than others in terms of paying out and so on, but like you say, generally it is really minimal…nevertheless millions of people sign up to these things and no matter how many times people will say it’s a waste of time, they still do it. So, I do recommend a few sites to a point…IF people really want to do it, but ultimately I agree that it’s ridiculous. Especially that screening out rubbish – from what you’re saying, that just does look like a blatant scam to get info for free. Not good. Thanks for putting it across so well.
Thanks for commenting. I have heard there are a few legitimate online survey companies, and there might be. However, when I read the terms and conditions and the privacy policies of the survey sites with the best reputation, I am still convinced it’s not worth the effort or the risk of compromising your personal information.
As you mentioned, not all online surveys are scams, although I’m convince most are.
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I’ve used a couple different survey sites in the past, but now I completely stay away from them. There’s simply not enough profit potential for them to be worth it. Not only that, but there’s usually a screener that needs to be filled out before every survey that decides whether or not you even “qualify” for it – and that’s time you’re not getting paid for. There are a number of better options for earning a solid income online.
Hi, Matthew!
Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your first hand account of online surveys. That screener survey you mention is often the information the survey company wants, but will not pay for.
If someone wanted to make money online, I recommend Wealthy Affiliate. It’s where I learned to earn a full-time income online.
All the best,
Gary
Gary this is a brilliant article and I hope this goes viral… I am so on board with you on all of the points you mentioned here.
There are a few legitimate survey sites but they are so hard to find in between all the rubbish and scams. I have been with one survey site in my country now for about 5 years and they are legitimate. I am also with Clixsense and I quite like them, they have some surveys as well as pay to click.
Other than those two I have found ptc and survey sites mostly a waste of time and energy.
I have found myself spammed no end after trying to sign up and do surveys with loads of websites.
Hi, Lynne!
Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your kind words. I’ve heard good things about Clixsense too, but haven’t researched them. They’re on my list.
Like you mentioned, there are just so many awful survey sites out there. I’ve been scammed and spammed to death by them as well. And, the legitimate sites really don’t pay much at all, certainly not enough to live on.
That’s why I recommend people build their own online business. It’s not difficult and the potential income is phenomenal. I made a short cartoon video that shows how easy it is to get started.
All the best,
Gary
Enjoyed reading the website even though it made me hang my head in shame. Yes, guilty as charged, I was a gullible online survey participant.
Luckily, I only lost my self respect and not a wad of cash.
I think the message came over well and the lead into the product was well thought out.
Lots of good information.
Lynn
Hi, Lynn!
Thanks for stopping by. Yes, I’ve been taken by online survey scams too. Unfortunately, it’s part of trying the make money online adventure for many people.
Thank you for you kind words and feedback.
All the best,
Gary
This is a very informative, well-written article, Gary. I learned so much that I never new about the danger and waste of time with online surveys. Thank you for taking the time to really highlight the core issue-greed-that most people struggle with leads them to these deceptive surveys. It was a great point. I would like to maybe see you elaborate a bit more at the end of the article about how you can earn money through your own business. Great article and your hard work in researching all this info really shows!
Hi, Brenna!
Thanks for taking the time to comment. Thanks too for you kind and encouraging words.
Yes, for many of us, greed is our weakest link. It helps to be aware that this is how scammers draw us into their trap.
I appreciate your interest in making money online the right way. Watch this short video to learn how to build a legitimate online business that can pay a full-time income.
All the best,
Gary
I absolutely love that video and it explained everything so well to me…actually, I’ve been looking into a lot of survey sites as well – some of them seem better than others in terms of paying out and so on, but like you say, generally it is really minimal…nevertheless millions of people sign up to these things and no matter how many times people will say it’s a waste of time, they still do it. So, I do recommend a few sites to a point…IF people really want to do it, but ultimately I agree that it’s ridiculous. Especially that screening out rubbish – from what you’re saying, that just does look like a blatant scam to get info for free. Not good. Thanks for putting it across so well.
Hi!
Thanks for commenting. I have heard there are a few legitimate online survey companies, and there might be. However, when I read the terms and conditions and the privacy policies of the survey sites with the best reputation, I am still convinced it’s not worth the effort or the risk of compromising your personal information.
As you mentioned, not all online surveys are scams, although I’m convince most are.
All the best,
Gary