“Make $10,000 a Month Taking FREE Surveys”, “$50 Cash For Each Free Survey You Complete”, “Survey Companies Pay $125 per Hour”… etc. etc. etc.

Anyone who’s spent more than 5 minutes online looking for ways to earn extra income will certainly recognize these types of absurd claims. They’re everywhere! However, it’s more than a little far fetched to believe that you can become a millionaire simply by telling some marketing company if you prefer root beer or cola or whether you would rather vacation at the beach or in the mountains.

Yes, as you suspect, most of these “FREE Survey” offers are scams that you should avoid. “If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is” may seem to be worn out advice but it’s usually still valid.

Of course, it’s important to point out that there are legitimate opportunities that do pay consumers to give their opinions of products and services. It’s really a lot of fun to be paid to test a new product, express your opinion of a restaurant you’ve just tried, or being able to provide input on products under development.

Unfortunately, finding these legitimate opportunities can be quite difficult and very time consuming.

The scam sites are, of course, extremely easy to find. Promising just about anything to get you to sign up, their ads shout “FREE” at you every chance they get. They spend huge amounts of money to make sure that their ads are in front of you as often as possible.

Free things are quite often worth every penny you spend on them! You may ask yourself, if it’s free then what’s really in it for them? Would they really spend money advertising their free offer just out of the goodness of their hearts? Hardly!

Whenever you respond to any “Free” Paid Survey Site you can be faced with three high risk dangers:

1. SPAM: Since legitimate survey companies need your name, address, etc., the scam sites ask for the same (and more) information without arousing suspicions. Your risk is that this personal information will be used on the internet in various illegal ways. In fact, some scam sites are actually set up for the sole purpose of obtaining names, addresses and email addresses to sell to spammers and off line “junk” mailers.

2. CREDIT CARD FRAUD: If the free survey site requires you to enroll in “introductory offers” in order to participate in their paid surveys, you are probably looking at a scam. Unsuspecting people have been known to enroll in dozens – even hundreds – of these offers without ever earning a penny from a single survey. You may be told, or even encouraged, to then “cancel” your order within a certain period of time so that your credit card will not be charged. However, it is common for your cancellation request to be delayed or not processed at all, resulting in unwanted charges on your card.

3. IDENTITY THEFT: Legitimate survey companies do need certain information, including your social security number, in order to pay you for the surveys you complete. The Internal Revenue Service requires that they send you a 1099 tax form if you earn more than $600.00 in any given year. Therefore, it is critical that you deal only with legitimate sites. Once they have your personal information, scammers may try to steal your identity.

So, the question is, “How can I determine if a survey site is legitimate or not?”

– Legitimate survey companies NEVER require you to provide your credit card information before you can sign up for their programs.

– Most real survey companies don’t advertise heavily. Be wary of ads promising access to “free” surveys that claim ridiculous income figures.

– There are a number of web sites that pre-screen paid survey offers and publish reviews of those that they have found to be legitimate. Make use of them. It may cost a few dollars up front to register but you will undoubtedly find it to be money well spent if it helps you to avoid being scammed.

Taking paid surveys can be an excellent way to generate extra income while staying at home. You won’t become a millionaire overnight but it may be a way to pay for a few of those little “extras” that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford. Just “be careful out there”.