Surveys promise valuable gifts but usually offer nothing but trouble

The offer certainly sounds tempting when it comes in your e-mail inbox - “Get a free Ipod!” or “Get a free $250 gift card!” All you have to do, the e-mail says, is fill out an online survey. The message may include some information about how the company is interested in learning about your shopping habits and will reward a few minutes of your time with a valuable gift. What do you have to lose?

Plenty, as it turns out. These offers, like everything else that turns out to be too good to be true, are financial scams. The “few minutes” of your time can turn out to be endless hours of time if you are willing to spend it. The surveys go on and on and on, asking you all manner of personal questions. Once you think you are done, you find yourself being transferred to another site that wants you to fill out another survey. What about the Ipod? Assuming that you haven’t forgotten about it while filling out endless survey questions, you may discover that ultimately there is no stated way to claim it. Your time has been wasted.

It could turn out to be much worse than you realize. All of these surveys are going to ask you for your e-mail address. Once you provide that to them, you will find your name added to endless spam lists, as the survey company will undoubtedly sell your e-mail address to anyone and everyone who is willing to pay for it. That may be just the beginning, however. 

These surveys vary, but many of them will also ask you for personal information, such as your name, home address and phone number. Some of them may even require you to enter a credit card number, perhaps to pay for shipping costs. Once you have done this, you have set yourself up to be a victim of identity theft. Not only have you given away your e-mail address, but you have also given away your name, home address and credit card information. Armed with this, the scammers who are conducting the survey have everything they need to go out and open new accounts or take out loans in your name.  Once that happens, you may find yourself up to your neck in debts you didn’t even know you had, as the scammers spend tens of thousands of dollars in your name. They won’t pay the bills, and all of that unpaid debt will end up on your credit report.

It will take you months, if not years, to straighten out the mess. In the meantime, you will have troubles of your own as you try to take out loans or obtain credit cards.

These online surveys promise a lot, but all they will give you is trouble. Avoid them.

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