Hello, my friend and a very warm welcome back. Today I’m got to go through How To Spot Make Money Online Scams.
I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.
Working from home and making money online is something millions of people worldwide would love to do.
It’s understandable because job security is pretty non-existent in 2022 and the daily commute is not a favourite of most people!
Scam programs tend to prey on the fact that people looking for ways to work from home are novices and don’t know the meaning of online jargon.
As a person who was scammed many years ago because I didn’t know any better, I thought it was high time this post was written to save you from the same fate.
After writing over 300 reviews on programs I have a lot of first-hand knowledge of what to look out for.
Not all of the reviews were scams but the majority were!
Let’s dive in and find out more:
What Is A Scam?
If you look in a dictionary A Scam is described as being a Noun.
A scam is described as being: ” an illegal plan for making money, especially one that involves tricking people “.
Scam is also described in the dictionary as a verb.
” To trick someone into giving you money, usually in an illegal way “.
To be honest a scam is not something that is black and white and it isn’t always easy to spot.
Depending on your point of view you could say boxes with large images of food are scams as sometimes what comes out of the box is not like the image!
If you purchase a program online and don’t receive a single thing that is a definite scam.
Then there are those that make wild promises and don’t deliver totally they are a sort of grey area.
Another one to look out for is a small front end cost and then upsells that give you more pieces to make the program work.
I will be covering this in more detail shortly.
How many people do you know that have fallen for make money online scams?
How To Spot Make Money Online Scam Tips
If you don’t want to read the post you can learn from this video instead!
TIP 1 No Founder Information
By far the biggest red flag with any online program is when there is no information about the creator/founder.
Let’s face it if you had just come up with a program that will help millions of people to get out of poverty you are not going to hide, are you?
No. This is the best thing since sliced bread it works 100% of the time guaranteed if people follow the steps exactly as you lay them out.
You will be screaming it from the rooftops, going to the newspapers and being interviewed on TV and you will be a millionaire in no time.
If you cannot find anything about the creator then you should be asking yourself why not?
Take me for example On this blog is an about me page with my photo, I also have Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Linked In and a Youtube channel.
Just Google the name and look for the info it only takes a few seconds and it is better than spending money on something that may not work.
Not all offers have refunds!
Tip 2 You can make $5,000 in a day!
In blogging, we call these ” Get Rich Quick Schemes “
Many people looking to work online from home are looking for quick money.
The problem arises when you go to an offer and it says that is possible if you follow 3 simple steps!
Making money online does not work in 3 simple steps it takes time and effort, you have to learn the process first!
Even if you pay out for ads you have to get the ad right for it to run and that takes a big learning curve and a lot of money.
This type of offer is very rarely going to cost over $50 and if you have to recruit people to join it and you get paid a commission how many people do you need in 24 hours to make the $5,000?
First of all, you are going to receive 50% as your reward so that is $25. You would need 200 people a day to get to $5,000.
Does that sound plausible to you?
Even if the offer was $20 and they say you can earn $300 a day you would still need 30 people a day at 50% commission.
How many people with no experience could do that?
When you have experience and know-how to market then that kind of money is possible but that does not come overnight!
Tip 3 Buying The Secret
Have you been to a sales page where you are not sure exactly what it is you are buying?
You are given just enough information to get you all excited and the rest will be revealed when you pay the $13.97 fee.
They promise it works and makes money every day and there are even screenshots of different amounts of money with dates attached.
Just to burst your bubble there is no secret so don’t get your credit card out.
Legitimate companies have extensive information available so you know exactly what you are purchasing.
Tip 4 The Lifestyle Sale
Have you watched a presentation video or webinar where the person talking to you is in a big mansion with a swimming pool and a high-end car?
I’m in no way saying these are all scams but they are something you need to be aware of.
If they are saying you can have all of this and that is what the majority of the content is about then be very careful.
Anyone can hire a mansion and a flash car it doesn’t mean that it belongs to the person presenting the information.
I know lots of millionaires and to look at them you wouldn’t have a clue because it is not something they brag about.
Having fallen for this type of offer myself I understand that it is tempting but please think about it and do some research don’t just jump in.
Do a google search for the name of the program and then add the word review and read what others are saying about how it works!
Tip 5 Done For You Products
This type of offer to look out for is where you are offered done for you sales pages, email templates, videos, and a way to make money over and over again!
These done for you items are going to do all of the work for you because it is a proven sales funnel that you are using.
You only need to pay the frontend cost of $14.93 and all of this is yours.
Then send traffic and make hundreds of dollars!
If that was true why are they selling it to you for such a small price?
The answer is getting the traffic to the sales page or video is the hardest part.
A way of getting people to join is to run expensive paid ads and because you are doing that for them then they are saving a fortune by not having to do it themselves.
And, not only that but you and anyone else who joins is paying for the privilege of doing all of the hard graft!
Another downside is all of the videos, sales pages and templates are all the same and that makes it even more difficult to stand out in a sea of other ads.
Tip 6 Fake Testimonials
When visiting sales pages you can quite often see testimonials of people who are saying how fantastic the offer is and that it works and makes money.
There are a lot of ways to fake testimonials you can pay people on Fiverr for example and they will either do a written testimonial or video for you.
You give them a script pay the fee and just add the finished product to the sales page.
Another popular method is to use stock images and write your own script.
Some sales pages even just copy and paste the same images and rearrange the texts.
After seeing many sales from the same creator you will soon learn to spot this sort of practice.
Tip 7 Fake Comments
These tend to occur on platforms Like Facebook there will be hundreds of comments, However, you should go through some of them because they are not all in favour of the ad.
If there are many comments on a web page they could have been paid for or done by a friend or colleague.
You will know if they are fake because there will be zero negative comments.
By the same token, many people disable comments on blogs because it can be a very time-consuming process to approve and reply to them!
Tip 8 Upsells
Upsells sometimes called OTO’s are something to keep an eye out for.
As a rule of thumb if a product has a very small entry fee then 9 times out of 10 there will be Upsells inside and these can cost hundreds of dollars.
In some instances, they are the missing pieces of the puzzle that you need to make the program actually work and in other cases, they are not needed.
This can be a real minefield to work out!
For me it’s simple if it has upsells I do not buy it.
If there is a money-back guarantee it only covers the front-end fee. The OTO’s are not included.
Not all offers with upsells are scams but it can be a good indicator to do a lot more research before spending any money.
Tip 9 Scarcity
Not all scarcity is a scam.
If it is a digital product that is being offered and you are told there is only a limited number then that is very likely to be a scam.
Have you been in a situation where the page says there are only 3 spots left in the region or state that you are from?
If you have I hope you didn’t find out the hard way to steer clear!
When scarcity is not a scam is majoritively for physical products. If Amazon says there are only 3 left then that is probably the case for example.
The same can be said for physical items from any vendor.
Teaching a course takes time and that can have a limited amount of places available so that won’t be an excuse or a scam.
Tip 10 How long Has The Program Been Around?
There are ways to make money online that have been around for years, have a community that you can talk to and often have a Trial period.
Those are the ones to join you may have to pay a fee eventually to get everything on offer but you will know that before you start.
I have reviewed hundreds of programs that were made yesterday and the creator brings out a new product every single month sometimes 2 a month!
I’m not saying they are all scams. But, you need to do a lot of research and due diligence to weed out the good from the bad.
Tip 11 Trust Your Instincts
Your own instincts can be a great indicator especially if you have come across scams before.
Your gut can also tell you which way to go.
I have a saying if I’m not sure I’m not buying it straight away I’m sleeping on it and asking questions, If there are no satisfactory answers then the cash is staying in the bank!
Conclusion
Hey, I know this was a long post but it was written to save you money and time.
As I mentioned earlier I review programs and they are not all bad there are some very legitimate programs around.
Above is a recommended tab of offers that give you what is promised.
There are only 2 that I am personally an affiliate for and that is stated in the review if you join any of the others I will not make any money.
I’m telling you this so that you can see that not all reviews are based on making money out of you.
Making money online takes learning, effort, and real work but it can be the most enjoyable pastime ever 🙂
I love it!
If you feel this has helped you to understand scams better would you share it to help others?
Lisa. CEO and founder of mistakesbloggersmake.com
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Thank you for outlining what to be careful of when you want to make money online. In my experience, a person must know these warnings and must follow it by the book. The scammers know these warning signs and are improving their technique to scam more people for their money. I recently fell for a scam and I was aware of these signs. Luckily for me, I acted quickly and got my money back before they even received it. Thus, everyone please be careful and do hard research first about a product to ensure you make the safe right decision.
Hello Bernard.
It is good to know that you got your money back in time.
Having a working knowledge of how these scams operate will stand you in good stead to not get scammed in the future.
I appreciate you sharing your experience with my readers.
Have a great week.
Lisa 🙂
Since I don’t have much expirience yet, I am glad I read this text. There are a lot of online scams so these beginner blogging tips will come in handy. It is always a good idea to inform yourself first before taking an important step. You have all the recommendations from me.
Hi Bojana,
You are so right we need information before making purchases.
Happy to know this post has helped you.
Lisa.
I’m so grateful you wrote this article. It can be so difficult to spot a scam – especially when trying to learn how to make money online. I also like that you described what a “scam” is. Not having any info on the founder on a website is not a good thing. It gives me more confidence when there’s a face with a name and that person’s bio. So good that you pointed that out. Also, anything that says you can get rich quick is an obvious scam. But being new to internet marketing, people don’t know that. Your post is a great source of information – especially for those trying to learn how to make money online.
Unfortunately, a lot of people have no idea what a scam is?
I’m hoping this post will save them a lot of time and money in the future.
Luckily there are some simple signs you can be aware of to help you out.
Thanks for stopping by Shalisha.
Have a great week.
Lisa.
As a blogger I see so many pitches for online “opportunities” that are nothing more than scams. Great point about “buying the secret”, as way too many of these scams make promises about their “secret formula” that you’ll get access to without having to offer proof of their results. It’s solid advice to pay attention to instincts and consider that if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.
The only secret to making money online Aly is good honest hard work and persistence to keep going.
Thanks for the comment.
Have a great week.
Lisa.
Scammers are becoming more and more devious with their tactics to lure the unsuspecting person in. You have highlighted some great red flags that one should be aware of and look out for. I agree with you, if you cannot find who the creator of a product is, it is highly likely that it is a scam. Otherwise he would be proud of his creation.
A money back guarantee does give some reassurance, but one still needs to do diligent research to make sure that you will actually get your refund. Thanks for sharing these tips.
I have found out another method that the scammers are doing and that is to put their creations into other people’s names. The only thing that is very obvious is looking at the social media profiles of these people and seeing it looking amateurish!
I wonder what they will think up next?
Have a great week.
Lisa.