Avoid Get Paid to Read scams

by Jen (April 9, 2008)

When the job market got scary in the early part of this decade, a lot of people started looking online for ways to make some extra money. Most people realize “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”, but desperation and fear can make sensible people do less than sensible things.

The internet is full of scams, but one that stood out to me particularly was the “Get paid to read” phenomenon. Companies sprang up all over the place, usually on ugly, unprofessional websites. They claimed that advertisers paid them to send email ads to people who had expressed interest in their type of products, and for signing up, you’d get a few cents or a portion of a cent for every email you read. Sounds ridiculous, right?

Except there are one or two companies that do this legitimately (click the image above). There are also a lot of legitimate survey companies that pay you in cash or gifts to take surveys for them. So it might not sound so ridiculous, especially if you really, really need a few dollars.

The Get Paid to Read Scams (also known as GPTR or PTR) promise to pay people after they’ve accrued a certain amount of earnings. They will typically pay once or twice to get people believing it works. Then, the payments are a little bit late, but they send out friendly emails explaining the cash was a little short this month or they had to go stay with Aunt Erma for a week. Then the payments get later and later, and then they stop. And even then, many of these webmasters visit forums where they claim the problems weren’t their fault, and a small army of people believe them and the webmasters close shop and start a new scam, and take in a whole new group of suckers. It’s really sad, but most of the believers are people who are poor, disabled, or in some way really desperate for cash. It’s not hard to see where they’re coming from.

One of the legitimate sites that really does pay you a few cents to read emails or up to $1 or more to take surveys is InboxDollars. I joined that site years ago, and have earned at least $30-50 a year ever since. Not much money, but then it’s not hard to make either. And you do find some interesting products through their ads. It’s a fun way to earn a little mad money, pay a utility bill once a year, have some extra Christmas cash or just stash a little extra into savings.

Here’s a great source for legitimate services that pay you to take surveys. Some basic tips on judging whether a program is on the up-and-up:

• Web site design looks professional.
• It’s a corporation, not a stay at home webmaster trying to get chummy with you in personal emails about his dog’s worms and his surgery.
• It’s been recommended by people you trust, and they really have been paid
• The ads you get in email look like they’re from real, usually offline companies selling tangible products. Not online services, other GPTR services and intangible goods.
• They never, ever suggest you could earn enough to quit your job.

Good luck, and don’t expect more than enough to pay for a nice dinner out once or twice a year. Legitimate email and survey companies can be a lot of fun, but they will never replace job income.

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Posted in Frugal, Scam Notices, Technology
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