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How to Avoid Cash for Surveys Scams (And Find Scam Free Surveys)

One of the first things that pops into people's minds when making money online and working from home is “scams”. This is unfortunate, but is completely understandable. The internet is filled with scams. There are people pretending to be survey companies trying to scam you, and there are people trying to scam legit survey companies.

However, once you start to figure a few things out, it becomes easier to avoid cash for surveys scams and pick out the legitimate paying survey companies. I have been doing this a while, which is why I started Survey Chris, so you can focus more on making money and less on avoiding scams.

While using the sites that I recommend is a great way to get going and find scam free surveys, it never hurts to know how to pick out the scams and find legit survey sites on your own. The more you know, the better.

To make it easy, I've broken my process down into 5 rules to follow. If you follow the 5 rules, you'll avoid the huge majority of scams on the internet.

However, one thing that these rules won't solve is getting your inbox flooded with emails. Fortunately I've covered that in detail for you here.

So let's get into it

My 5 Rules for Avoiding Cash for Surveys Scams

Rule #1 – Never Pay to Join a Survey Panel

You should never be paying money to join these survey panels. They should be the ones paying you! If you are asked to pay for access to a survey panel, you know you are dealing either way a scam or a survey router. For the scams, you should obviously avoid them.

When it comes to survey routers, they are actually legitimate sites. You basically pay them to send surveys from multiple companies to your inbox, so you don't have to go out and find sites, and keep track of things. If this appeals to you, then by all means use a survey router.

In my opinion, I'd rather access the survey companies on my own and make more money because I'm not paying anyone. Especially when it's as simple as finding a legitimate list of survey sites from someone who knows what they are talking about.

Rule #2 – Research the Market Research Firm Running The Panel

Market research firms are the ones behind these survey panels. Businesses hire these research firms to get information from people like you and me. To do so, these market research companies set up survey panels which we can access to get paid for surveys.

There are good market research companies and bad ones, along with fake survey panels that actually aren't run by a market research firm. One of the simplest ways to do this is to check their BBB profile.

You should know, however, that just because a company isn't signed up with the BBB doesn't make them a scam. But they should have some information on the company or at least another place to look.

Rule #3 – Look For Contact Information on the Survey Site

Good survey sites want you to be able to contact them. Good survey companies want things to run smoothly. They want your opinion, so they can give it to their clients, so their clients can make better products and services. It's very straight forward for legitimate survey companies.

If a survey company doesn't have contact information, then you need to be wary of them. If you look at how straight forward it is for legitimate companies, then why would any legitimate survey company not want you to be able to contact them and make sure things are going well.

It's an extra bonus if the company as 24 hour chat, like Inbox Dollars.

Rule #4 – Check Out the Information Being Asked

You should always be aware of just how personal the questions are from these companies. Asking for what bank you use and who your insurance provider is are typical questions. However, if they ask for any specific numbers, or passwords or your social security number, leave the site immediately.

The only time I provide my credit card number is when I'm taking advantage of paid offers, such as buying a domain name for $7 and getting paid $10. But I am never giving my credit card number to the actual survey panel, it's with the company they direct me to.

Some of my favorite paid offer survey panels are Swagbucks, Inbox Dollars, and CashCrate.

Rule #5 – Look for Honest Reviews from Actual Members

One problem that you run into is that these survey companies pay for referrals. This is an extremely great deal, but unfortunately can get abused. Some people see this and just try to refer people to as many websites as possible. This will lead to them recommending scams.

That is another reason I started this website. I wanted to create an honest review site where you are getting reviews from an actual member of these sites. I fully try out these sites. I'll point out scams and I'll not recommend legitimate companies if I think they are underpaying.

Make sure the reviews you are looking at are coming from actual members.

Conclusion

So there you have the rules that I follow to avoid scams. I think it is important for you to know my rules, even if you simply take advantage of my website and use the sites I recommend. It will save you time to do so. It is always good to know more when it comes to your online safety.
Have any questions or tips to add? Let me know in the comments!

Advertiser Disclosure: We get a commission for some of the links on the blog. The opinions expressed here are the author's alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or endorsed by our partners.

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