There are a number of ways in which you can recognize paid surveys scams, and you should typically trust your instincts whenever you feel something may be a scam. One thing to keep in mind is that most legitimate paid surveys will not charge you money to take the survey; you should not be paying a company to give your opinion. You should also be wary of any offer that indicates you will make a great deal of money for taking surveys. These may be paid surveys scams since most legitimate surveys sites that do pay, only pay a small amount for each survey.
In general, one of the best ways to avoid paid surveys scams is to follow your instincts whenever you feel that an offer is “too good to be true.” While there are legitimate sites and companies that pay ordinary people money to complete surveys and give opinions on different products or companies, they are fairly rare. There are far more paid surveys scams than legitimate offers available, so you should use caution whenever you consider a paid surveys opportunity.
One rule you should keep in mind is that most offers that require you to pay money to register for a site or purchase a list of survey sites are paid surveys scams. Most people would not pay a company to hire them, yet that is the exact thing these companies are asking of people. Such companies typically provide no information, a useless list, or a legitimate list of sites you could find for free by doing more searching on your own. These paid surveys scams typically make their money off of registration fees or list purchases, rather than through providing any type of real service.
You should also be cautious of any offer that indicates you can make a great deal of money by taking surveys, as most such offers come from paid surveys scams. There are legitimate companies that do pay people to take surveys, even over the Internet. The payment for such surveys, however, is typically quite small and far less than scam sites will claim. Such surveys also may require several hours to complete, making the salary based on time spent quite insignificant.
If you do find a site or offer that seems legitimate, then you should do an Internet search for that company by name to look for what others have said about it. Look for information about the company on sites other than the one owned by that company, especially websites devoted to providing information about paid surveys scams and other online swindles. You can also look for information about the company from the Better Business Bureau or similar agencies, to see if there are any reports against that company.