A way of making money online that has drawn the interest of many opportunity seekers is paid surveys. This is mainly because it is seen as an easy way to make money. There are no special skills required. The only requirement is to give an opinion of products. With the popularity of surveys have also come a lot of negative press about people being scammed. There are many stories online from people telling about their bad experiences. So all of that has some rightly asking the question are all paid surveys a scam?

There are indeed some survey scams out there. It is highly unfortunate that some people take advantage of other people just trying to make some extra money and make a better life for themselves but it does happen. There are however legitimate companies that do offer paid surveys to the public. Those honest survey companies are worth looking at and will pay for jobs that are completed.

So what do you look for to know whether it is a scam or not? It is sometimes difficult especially for beginners to tell the difference. Most survey companies that are not legitimate are there for only one reason which is to get your contact information. They then sell your email address to marketers who will then send you spam emails.

There are a few ways to tell the legitimate offers from scams. First of all any legitimate companies will give you a screening questions first to see if you qualify for a paid survey. This is because most surveys are targeted to certain demographics. A resource you can also use to find out which companies have complaints against them as well as to report and find reviews is surveypolice.com. Another way to help avoid the scams is to use directories that have already screened the companies offering surveys.

The scams should not deter those who want to make money online doing surveys. There are many people out there who are making an extra income despite the problems in the industry.