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15 “Make Money Online” Scams to Avoid

Posted on by in Make Money Online

Sorry to burst your bubble, but there are NO high paying work-at-home “online” jobs. Even stay-at-home accountants that work online with their office in a bedroom are struggling to make “good” money. Repeat – There are no high paying online work-at-home jobs. Any advert that claims otherwise is lying to you.

scams-online-jobs

There! You now know all you need to know in order to save you from being scammed online. If an advert claims you will have to work for cookie crumbs, then it is probably being honest. If it says you can make money fast, turn your computer into a money-making machine, or claims that “something” earned more than a few dollars per day, then it is lying to you and is a scam.

There are thousands (maybe millions) of these types of scam adverts online. Here are the swindles you will be presented with if you click on them.

1. Sell naked pictures of yourself

After the sales banter is through and they have told you how much money you will make, they ask for naked pictures of yourself. They claim they will be sold over and over again for other people’s personal use (i.e. they will not end up online). You send the pictures, they host them on their website, and you are never paid because they are never sold.

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However, they are spread around the Internet and/or posted on porn sites to improve profile rankings. Luckily for most men and women, the scammers do not use the victim’s real name, which makes it more difficult for their friends and family to see them online. However, there are times when such images are used in online adverts and social media profiles where family members and friends may see them, so be sure to avoid this swindle.

2. Become a JOI video maker

Few online scams will ask you to star in porn movies, but they will try to sell the idea of you recording your own videos being sexy, stripping, or giving “Jerk Off Instructions.” The scamming world is turning this into a massive business, and thousands of women are not being paid for it. What is worse is that most women are too embarrassed to report the fraud to the police. You are told your videos will be paid every time they are viewed, but alas, yours don’t seem to get views (they actually do get views, but the company doesn’t want to pay you, so your view count stays at 0).

3. Host personal webcam videos

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You are told you can make a fortune by hosting your own webcam shows and having leering viewers pay you. Women spend hours naked, on their knees, talking sexy to online viewers, and at the end they get $1.50 per hour because their “wages” were taken for taxes, admin fees, hosting fees, and payment-release fees.

4. Re-post the same advert and charge people

Sexual exploitation scams are the most common, which is why it was only fair that they were discussed first in this article, but the second most common swindle is this age-old scam: Post an advert online offering the secret to make hundreds of dollars for just $X. People pay you $X, and you tell them the secret. The secret is to post the same advert and charge people for your secret.

5. Sell you a list of companies or people that hire home workers

You are sent a list of companies and people that is scraped off the Internet. It is worthless, and any that were useful have already been solicited by the other 200 people that bought the list.

6. Fill in surveys

There are thousands of these scams, and each have their own way of defrauding you. The sad thing is that most “Make money online” articles will tell you that filling in surveys is a legitimate way to make money, but there are so many scammers out there that it is not worth taking the risk. One scam is to make you pay a subscription. Another is to make you earn $X per month in order to draw out your wages, but they never send you enough surveys to earn $X. Another way is to have you fill out surveys with your personal information on them so they can steal your identity. Another scam is to make you fill out a series of surveys and then cancel your account and not pay you.

7. Join our freelance website or writing website

freelance-website-scams

If a freelance website or writing group asks you to pay (in any way) to join or participate, then it is a scam. Real freelance and writing websites are free to join and use. Most often, you only pay fees if you get work. The genuine (free) writing-and-freelance websites are so full of competition that it is impossible to earn a living wage.

8. We will help you patent your invention or idea

Usually they simply steal your idea and tell you that your idea has already been patented. Other scammers are more callous and will do the same, but only after charging you a $900 patent fee.

9. Write content for clients

If you are told you can make a lot of money writing content for websites, blogs, article marketplaces, or social media profiles, then you are being lied to. There are Middle Eastern writing mills that churn out high quality content for cents per article, and there are legions of stay at home parents, students, disabled and ill people that are willing to work for pennies and/or for free, so why would anybody pay you? What is so special about you? The writing-content scam works two ways. Either, your content never sells on the article marketplace, or you are simply never paid for your work and it is used in somebody else’s name. Usually, there is nothing you can do about either, which is why it is such a common swindle.

10. Post reviews online

This scam is almost as common as the writing swindle. You are told you are paid for writing positive reviews on certain websites, and then you are never paid. They get the review, and you get bupkis.

11. Betting system scams

betting-system-scams

If a betting system or tipping website requires payment of any sort, then it is a fraud. Here are two scam websites that are obviously just after your money: LayBackAndGetRich and LayBettingSystems. Note how cheap they look and how many promises they make. That is not to say that all such websites are swindles. There are legitimate companies out there, such as SoccerKeep.com. Note how Soccer Keep “doesn’t” promise winners, and only offers a statistical opinion. The website is free to use and getting an account is free (no personal information needed).

12. Personal shopper jobs

Every single one of them is a fraud, and there are so many variations that it is mind numbing. Real-life mystery shopping and such “may” be real, but online mystery or personal shopping is always a fraud. People will not pay for you to shop online.

13. Let us help you start your own business

There is always a scam within these offers. Usually they want you to pay for consultancy services, or pay for a subscription, or your startup materials and fees, or something like that. At the very least, they want to use your accounts and information for scams so that you take the blame in the end. Also, any form of email-processing business or job is always a scam 100% of the time.

14. Call this number for more information

This is a classic scam. You are given a great proposal online that looks legitimate. It doesn’t promise massive returns, the website is sophisticated, and it even looks like a real job. However, you have to call to either apply or get information, and the phone call costs you a fortune for no return. Also, beware of online jobs that ask you to pay in order to take an intelligence test (ironically, paying to take the test is usually an immediate fail because it is pretty dumb). Note from the author – I have actually fallen for the job offer intelligence test scam myself and paid £3 to take the test.

15. Forex, auto-bidding, money-making machine software

There is no such thing. There is no such thing as moneymaking software that does all the work for you. If there was, why on earth would the owners be selling it? They would be using it 24/7 to make a fortune.

Conclusion

This is not a comprehensive list. There are literally thousands of online scams out there that you need to be aware of. There are Amazon and eBay drop-ship scams, there are bitcoin scams, and there are PayPal and Skill scams where you are asked for a little money in order to release a larger sum. If you are scammed, go online and complain to scam advisor websites and forums so that other people may avoid losing out the way you did.

Author: John Anderson

John Anderson is a digital expert. He has been working in the Internet sphere for 7 years. Today he is a co-founder of essay writing service ScholarAdvisor and a digital marketing consultant of several other projects.

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