In search of an online earning opportunity thousands of people around the globe either end up losing their money or their money. The motivation behind writing this post is to equip those folks who are in search of an online earning opportunity from being scammed off of their money and their time. So, in this post we will discuss all tips and methods on how to know if an online earning site or opportunity is legit or scam. You might want to read this post thoroughly to save yourself from being scammed.
The first rule of thumb for checking the legitimacy of site is to check the reviews of other people on the internet, because it will give you an idea of what problems other people are facing and whether to not spend your time on it. Secondly, realize that no real and legit earning opportunity will ever ask for a deposit money unless you are trading or investing. Next, check site's technical data such as, domain age, branding, and customer services. Additionally, some sites and opportunities may showcase big numbers just to entice you to make decisions that are bad for you. Moreover, a site may be legit and paying you some extra cash, but that does not mean it is worth it. Know you worth and always make decisions based on how you value your time. Further, jobs posted on social media platforms should be managed through a freelance platform such as Upwork, Fiver, Sproutgigs, Freelance.com, or guru.com to make sure you receive your funds. Furthermore, some sites may be spammy and you can end up losing your personal data, like passwords, credit/debit card details and you may also get phishing attacks. Finally, your personal experience matters the most. Sometimes you may don't want to listen to anybody and experience it for yourself, but once you get that experience be sure to share it with others just for the sake of safety of others.
In the following sections below, we will discuss all the methods of checking if a certain online earning opportunity is legit or scam. We will also discuss some safety precautions to take that may help you avoid falling into the traps of online scamming in the guise of online earning opportunities. Let's jump into the it and equip ourself with some useful knowledge for safe online side hustle hunting.
Methods to Know if an Online Earning Site is Legit or Scam:
I have been a desperate searcher of online earning opportunities and due to this desperation I have tried many things, have taken many risks, have lost my time in most cases, and have lost my money in some cases. These experiences have helped me build some standard operating procedures for searching safe online earning platforms. Today, I will try to pass on that knowledge to you in the hope that at least one person reading and implementing this knowledge may end up saving their time and money.
A Legit Site Won't Ask You for a Deposit:
An earning site, which claims that you can earn money online by doing some tasks on it, will never ask you for a deposit to enable you to earn or withdraw money. If any earning site is asking for a deposit to unlock the tasks or earning functionality or to enable you to withdraw already earned money from the website is fake and scam.
Just like an employer will not ask a job candidate to deposit money in the company's bank account to be able to get a job, a real earning site will never ask you for a deposit unless it is a betting, trading or investment site. You are already investing your time, and seems like these scam sites not just want to rob you off your time, but your money too.
Check for online reviews:
Before starting to work on any online earning site, make sure that you read reviews about the website. You can review earning sites on review sites such as TrustPilot and ScamAdviser. You can also read a review article from a blogger, but stay away from sponsored blog posts and biased review posts.
One of the major benefit of reading reviews about an earning site is that you get to know about any possible problems that other users are facing. You can also get to know if the sites pays or not and if pays how much you can expect. Ultimately, reading reviews can help you understand a bigger picture of how any earning site works and pays you.
Check for site technical data:
Site's technical data can help you understand enough data about site's legitimacy and possible scam or spam risk. If a site shows spammy advertisements blocking your task view and you are unable to click on certain important buttons without clicking on a slightly hidden ad, then certainly this website is a spam website. A legitamate earning site that has real tasks for you to do, should have a clean interface with no ads blocking your view so that you can complete your tasks more efficiently. On the other hand, spam websites are just motivated towards generating fake clicks from their users and then convert it into ad revenue.
Moreover, most scam sites are vanished from the market very sooner because of bad ratings and because they only work until their scam target is hit. So, scam site's are usually very young because they cannot stay in the market for too long. For a new earning website, it is very hard to know whether if it is scam or not, while old earning sites are there because they are legit and have good ratings on the internet. When deciding to work on young websites never risk your money, and read other users experiences around it.
Finally, you can also see site branding such as parent company and domain whois. If an earning site is a brand of legit company then there is nearly 0% chance of it being scam. Such companies will notify you about their shutdown and downtime schedules just so that you don't get worried or to give you an ample time to safely withdraw your earnings. On the other hand, scam sites often hide their whois name, and they don't have or show any parent company, because they don't want to be responsible for their scam actions.
You can check site's technical data through various online platforms including scamadviser and many others. (alert-green)
Never Get Greedy:
Scamming industry revolves either around fear or around greed. They want you to take decisions either based on fear or out of greed. In the case of online scam websites, most of these websites advertise offers that are very good to be true. Don't fall into these traps, and try to understand the advertisements logically.First of all, never trust sites that are showcasing numbers that are too good to be true. Secondly, never deposit money on earning sites that offer lucrative advantages for upgrades. A legitimate earning site, should boost or upgrade the profile of the users based on their performance and not based on their money. If a site is claiming to give higher benefits for those who spend more money, is possible not a legit earning site, rather it is taking money from its users.
Such kinds of websites are labelling themselves as, "if you have money which you can spend on us, then we can give you more money". Well if this is the case, why don't invest these funds into other stuff like building a skill, owning a website, investing in stock market, trading and other stuff like that?
Check if it is worth it?
Thousands of earning sites are available on the internet, but it doesn't mean they are worth it. Many of these earning sites, more specifically GPT sites, are directed towards generating money for themselves and not for its users. They place spammy ads on their user interface to generate fake clicks when user tries to click on some important navigation links on the site. Apart from that, most of these sites pay their users $0.0001 for clicking on 1 PTC ad which makes them unworthy for any user over the internet no matter which part of the world they are living in.
Hence, before deciding to work on any earning site, specifically a GPT site, try to understand it's worth by checking various earning methods you are allowed to avail and by comparing it with how much value your time. If by comparison, any earning site seems worthy to you, you should go for it, otherwise never spend your worthy time on worthless activities, because over time it will result in frustration and you will eventually quit it for being non-productive.
Check if it is spammy:
Spammy sites are the sites which exercise rigorous advertising on their platform, including pop-up advertises, advertises blocking view of your navigation and other parts that are important for completing tasks, and hidden advertisements that keep you redirecting to some other site when you click on some important part of the site.
First of all, understand that these spam websites are trying to generate money for themselves under the disguise of online earning opportunity. Secondly, they may redirect you to unsafe links though which your passwords and payment information can be stolen. Finally, working on these spammy websites will be a headache because each time you try to click on a certain navigation item or click on a task, you end up clicking on a hidden ad, redirecting you to some other page.
My take on these type of website is that, never waste your time on such websites, because these type of websites have one thing in common i.e. their pay rates are very low. It makes sense because, sites that can be so greedy to run spam ads on their site can also be greedy enough to not give you a fair pay rate.
Tips For Safer Online Earning:
With the overwhelming presence of online scam and fraud schemes, it is becoming more and more demanding to increase the awareness around safer online earning processes. Below are some tips for safer online earning.
Use Freelancing Sites For Online Social Media Jobs:
We often see jobs posted in social media groups and walls, but just as those fake earning sites most of these social media jobs are fake. Some of these jobs are solely directed towards having you fill your personal information so that it can be sold further on, while others actually give you the work to do but when it's the time to pay you, they just disappear.
For jobs posted on social media sites that aren't from a well-known company but seems to be from an individual or from a network that hides who they are, you need to make them hire you on any of the freelancing site such as Upwork, Guru, or Freelancer.com. In this way, you can substantially decrease the risk of not getting paid because freelancing sites will have your client pay in advance for every hiring that happens through freelance platforms.
Further, it is advisable to get all the details of the tasks from your client prior to getting started so that you have evidence to show to the freelance escrow team if in case any conflict arises.
Learn and Share your experience:
Remember that, the most long-lasting and precious knowledge comes from experience. Your experience matters a lot. Keep trying new things, but be smart in your judgments and do not let your greed drag you towards things that are too good to be true.
Finally, when you have a solid experience of how something works and how something doesn't work, make sure to leave a review on the internet wherever it is possible for you.
