How to Spot and Avoid Getting Scammed with Make Money Online “Opportunities”?

The internet can be dubbed as a land of opportunities, but it can also be a wasteland, especially when you do not know how to spot and avoid make money online scams.

The problem is, as scammers get better at what they are doing, they look more legitimate as time goes by, making it harder to discern whether you are entering into a legitimate transaction or not.

In this post, we’ll talk about the general strategies of scammers and the 7 red flags to be aware of to avoid getting scammed online.

Let’s get started.

2 General Strategies of Online Scams

There are a lot of red flags that you should look out for, but let us first have a deeper understanding of why scam websites have that genuine appeal.

1. Earn Your Confidence

This is also the same as earning your trust. This strategy is usually shown by the site with pictures of testimonials of members. Others have a story at their front page. It can be an inspirational one or a success story.

At the same time, the whole process is laid out, and it looks like joining is too easy. Also, there will be images that you do not have to spend money to join, or you can sign up using a free trial.

Lastly, the biggest thing about earning your confidence is the fact that there is an option to contact a 24/7 customer representative. You can talk to them before joining, and you can even ask for advice.

2. Bait and Switch

After gaining your confidence, they now move on to bait and switch. Do keep in mind that both strategies can exist in just the homepage. For the bait and switch to work, the site will offer a lot of packages.

What packages are we talking about?

We are pertaining to those bundles that tend to offer customized services. They will put up a package for a free trial first, which is always incomplete and only lasts for a couple of days. They will then follow it up with other packages in which the services will be more improved.

The catch is they offer it at a low price.

The next package will somehow be more expensive, but the remaining increments are not that far from the price of the previous package. By the end of all the packages, you will now have a feeling that the last package is worth it because you tend to have everything that you need.

The switch part is when you give in to the last package.

At first, you were going for the free trial one, and now you are going to pay for a monthly subscription. Another way of doing it is through the free route. They will say that it is free, but when you join, they will ask for your credit card information.

How to Spot Make Money Online Scams?

Here are some tell-tale signs that what you are getting into is not that legitimate.

1. Easy Money

Watch out for statements like, “earn money in a few minutes,” “cash out in an hour,” or the most popular one, “join and earn money.” Whoever thought that money would just be given to you that easily is truly mistaken.

2. No Specific Actions

They tend to be vague about what you are supposed to do to earn money. At the same time, they are not clear on how you will cash out. In the event that they do tell you what you are going to do exactly, they will not give the information as to whom you are doing it for.

3. Money-Back Guarantee

A lot of scam sites now offer a $1 trial and money-back guarantee, and this is usually the gist of the scam. What happens is that you will give them your credit card information and they will immediately charge the said amount on your account.

(That’s how I myself almost fell for Digital Altitude scam.)

Then the horror begins! Even if you stop using the service since you did not get anything out of it, they will keep on charging you. Usually, when you see the words “money-back guarantee,” it is guaranteed that you will not get any refunds.

4. No About Us or Contact Information

There is something truly off-putting about a good looking site without an about us page or any form of contact information.

Definitely, this is a huge red flag. First, you do not know how the site came to be and second, how you can contact anyone on their end if something goes wrong.

5. Narcissistic Sales Funnel

If the site is promoting a service wherein all you have to do is promote them, and you get money out of it, more often than not, it is a scam.

If you think about it, why does the site or the company need to hire unknown promoters when they can simply tap fewer individuals who already have a following?

The answer is it is a scam.

You and the site will enter into a contract (along with your credit card information, of course) and you will be locked in for a certain amount of time.

You will then realize that what you entered into is not that doable and when you do earn something from it, it is not that big as they promised.

6. Always Winning Attitude

This is the most obvious red flag, and it is when the promotion for the certain transaction that you are getting into is too good to be true.

They make it a point to make it look like you are not going to lose anything.

Worse, they will not talk about the risks especially the fact that you will be charged for a specific service that you did not sign up for, or be charged for nothing at all.

Final Words

Even though there are some sites that will take advantage of you, there are still a lot of sites that are really there to help you out.

Now that we have provided you with some of the common things to look out for on how to spot and avoid make money online scams, you do not have to be too scared of taking a gamble.

Now, I’d like to hear from YOU:

What are your tips on how to avoid being scammed online? Any make money online scams that you are aware of?

Sharing is caring! ↓