"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 gone online to find extra income opportunities probably recognizes these types of absurd claims. They're everywhere you look 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 a PC or a Mac or whether you would rather eat pizza or fried chicken.

Yes, as you probably guessed, the vast majority of these so-called "Free" survey offers are nothing but scams. Avoid them - or at least use extreme caution when responding to the ads.

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, it can be very difficult and time consuming to locate these legitimate paid survey opportunities.

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.

If these programs are really free, then what's in it for them? Do you think that they purchase these ads just because they want to help you make money online - out of the goodness of their hearts? I don't think so.

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

1. SPAM: Legitimate survey companies really do need to collect certain personal information from you in order to assemble demographic data, to stay in touch with you, and to pay you. Knowing this, the scam artists know that they can ask for the same information without looking suspicious. Some scam survey sites are set up just to collect names, addresses, and email addresses which they then sell to spammers and other off line "junk" mailers.

2. CREDIT CARD FRAUD: Many of the free survey sites require you to enroll in "introductory offers" in order to participate in their paid surveys. Legitimate survey offers never require you to purchase anything to qualify for their programs. Unsuspecting people have been known to enroll in dozens - even hundreds - of these offers, yet never see a single penny in return. You may be told that you can easily "cancel" your order within a certain period of time and that your credit card will not be charged. However, it is not uncommon for your cancellation request to be delayed or even ignored, resulting in unwanted charges on your credit card account.

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?"

-- Real survey companies will never require you to submit your credit card information in order to participate in 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 sites on the internet that screen the thousands of paid survey programs that are available. They then publish reviews of those offers that they have found to be legitimate. You may want to make use of them. Registering with these review sites may cost a few dollars at first but it may be money well spent if it helps you to avoid the scam artists.

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".

Tags: extra income, how to make money, make money, make money at home, make money online, online surveys, Paid Surveys, SAHM, work at home, work from home
Filed under: Paid Surveys