“Can I tell a legitimate survey apart from a fake one?” is the single most important question you need to answer for yourself before taking any surveys online
Online surveys and quizzes are all over the internet. They’re quick and cheap to set up, easy for recipients to fill out, and simple for researchers to interpret. It’s no wonder that they remain a popular tool for marketers to reach and research their target audiences.
Many of them are indeed legitimate and even paid or offer other rewards in return. Every little helps, especially during the cost-of-living crisis. Or perhaps you have another (and good) reason to participate in them – assuming you also understand the value of the information you may be disclosing about yourself and your family.
But since it’s just as quick and easy for scammers to mimic legit surveys for their own ends and dangle ‘rewards’ in exchange for answers to a couple of seemingly innocuous questions, how can you tell a legitimate survey from a phoney one?
Whether the scammers are looking to steal your passwords, credit card details or other information, install malware on your PC or another device, or add you to more spam mailing lists, it makes sense to understand what the risks are, and how to “separate the wheat from the chaff”.
Tell-tale signs of scam surveys
These scam campaigns are increasingly big…
