Most of us have encountered offers of online survey sites promising a pile of money in a short time and paying signup bonuses that are far too large, and displaying images of users being happy that supposedly testify to their success. Fake sites might be difficult to notice; however, I will give you ways by which you may notice and intervene in case you come across one.
Recognizing Fraudulent Survey websites
These are replicas of real sites, similar to the real sites except that they are meant to be marketing or lead generation enterprises.
Evidence of False Survey Sites
- Unrealistic claims result in a high probability of it being a fraud.
- The sites offering free lodgings, expensive goods or huge sums of money even to sign up or even when responding to a survey are considered very questionable.
- Businesspeople operate authentic survey websites, and this means that the presence of glamorous models in such sites can be evidence of fakeness.
- The alpha list of quality research organisations does not require the latest users to subscribe to numerous offers even after registering.
- When it is too good to be true, it probably is. Exercise extreme caution not to be lured by the promises which sound too good to be true.
- Authoritative survey panels provide clear and informative surveys, and the absence of information is a mark of suspicion.
- The trick with this kind of site is that they promise to give huge rewards when people refer others; this is characteristic of fake survey sites.
- The authentic one on its site will be professional, and the counterfeited site may contain bad grammar, spelling and sloppy expressions.
Do Fake Survey sites actually pay?
These fraudulent websites also earn money in two ways, mainly:
- Selling User Information: Whenever a person fills out anything on this site, it is most likely to be handed over to the data mining companies. This is the same company that, after purchasing the data, transfers the same data to other companies that require prospective customers to make promotion of their products and services.
- Lead Generation Online: Leads are also generated after registration, and users are invited to subscribe to a survey or other offers. The site makes a fixed amount of money every time a user does certain stipulated activities, such as when they fill in forms with various survey operators. This is an online revenue model that talks of lead generation.
Legitimate Online Surveys registration
Never give information on suspicious websites to reduce SPAM in your mailbox. Rather, go to SurveyCentral.com, which is a trusted site that has hundreds of listings of legitimate online survey panels. It gives a user ranking of these panels so as to provide information on how reliable they are before you invest in them.