Taking online surveys is a good way to add some money in your wallet for those extra expenses your day job doesn’t accommodate for. It can never make a rags-to-riches story. The internet is a tricky place. While it affords great opportunities for you, it is also filled with surreptitiously lurking cheats. How can one ascertain if your web survey site is genuine or not?
First And Foremost
To know if you are being taken for a ride, it is imperative you understand how a genuine survey site operates. There are two types of companies that conduct market surveys. The first being the big companies with an established brand that are technically looking out for input for market research. They hire market research companies that send out surveys to folks with the right demographics, age, income, geographic location, marital status etc. Some of the well-known market research companies are Qualtrics, surveyjunkie and samplico.us The other survey group belongs to tier two companies. These are the ones you see listed all over the net. They send out surveys to anyone and everyone irrespective of research criteria logistics. It is these guys you need to vet carefully before jumping in to a survey or you’ll be sorry you did. Rebecca from Surveyclarity has discussed some tell-tale signs that point to scamming websites. Make sure you go through each one carefully.
Cheap imitation
The website almost looks like an already existing one.
Stark errors in grammar and spellings
These sites are not created carefully by talented professionals. They are done by unqualified website cloners. Some of them have barely graduated out of school. Hence, you see lots of spelling and grammatical errors.
No contact information
Unlike genuine survey sites, the contact information in these are missing very often. So, you will never know whom to contact. You will also find some important details like company background, tech support and FAQs missing. Trash these invites.
Barraged with SPAM mails
The other commonly noticed phenomenon is, you start seeing your mailbox bombed with emails from unknown companies luring you with prizes, sweepstakes or more surveys. Don’t respond to them. They could be carriers of malicious content and may also try to download malware into your computer system.
Unrealistic rewards and cash prizes
Web survey is not a place to get rich. It’s just to complement your regular income to meet those unexpected expenses. When you see lofty stories of how people made millions or fake testimonials about people’s rags to riches stories, just junk them. This does not happen.
Pitching other products and services
When you see a survey site for brand quality trying to pitch services, that is your cue to stay away. They are lead sellers. These surveys collect your profile information and sell them to other lead companies. They are making money out of you.
Skimpily dressed women with hot bods
Genuine companies scorn at such cheap gimmicks. They don’t want such images on their website. Fake websites target every kind of audience. They don’t even spare the sleazy ones. These are the kind of emails and website that are potential hosts for malware and viruses.
Pay to join
Fraudulent companies often ask for a down payment as registration fee. They may ask for your credit card details and social security number. Avoid them like plague. They are genuine scamsters.
Privacy policy missing from their site
Genuine survey companies always display their privacy policy. They follow stringent rules and don’t share their patron’s profile information. They ward off SPAM and junk emails. Fake survey sites don’t display them. If you don’t find their privacy policy just move on. They take no responsibility towards your information compromise.
Receiving emails from anonymous accounts or domains
Many mails take you to the URL for the survey, but a reply to the same email address will bounce. These emails are one way. Their domains are not registered, and the emails are anonymous. They don’t have any contact information or accountability to revert back to. Don’t even bother with them.
They force you to go through promotional offers
Before you even get to the main page, you will be walked through several promotional offers or videos. This is done to keep you on the site for as long as possible to show high traffic to the lead buyer. These sites post namesake surveys to show irrelevant videos. Their actual intent is to sell your profile information. They are lead sellers. They are also making money at your cost by distracting you and displaying ads on their websites.
Bottom line
There is a plethora of opportunities online. Use your best judgement and the above tips when you choose a website for survey.
