Survey-taking can be a great way to earn some pocket money, but survey scams are rampant. Here are five ways to spot a survey scam.

You are asked to share sensitive information before you can take the survey

They would really appreciate it if you could take this quick survey for them. They just need some information from you first, like your Social Security number, date of birth and maybe even your checking account number. If a survey company asks for anything more than basic information from you, sign out as quickly as you can. 

They advertise on Craigslist and similar sites asking for your email address

“Survey companies” that advertise on sites like Craigslist asking you to share your email address are usually fronts for scam rings. They use the bogus surveys as bait so you will share your email address. Once they have this information, they will use it to spam you with scam emails, phishing schemes, malware or worse. Alternatively, they will sell your email address to another scam ring to be used for similar purposes. 

They offer too much money

If a survey is offering you $100 for a 20-question survey that shouldn’t take you more than five minutes to complete, you are looking at a scam. No legitimate survey company is that desperate. The pay for authentic survey-taking is generally on a much more modest scale. 

You are directed to download attachments 

Any time an unknown contact asks you to download attachments to your device, be suspicious. More often than not, these are scams and the attachments are loaded with

malware. Don’t respond to the offer, and if it was made via email, be sure to report the email address as spam. 

They advertise aggressively

If the same solicitation for survey participation keeps popping up across your screen, you may be looking at a scam. Scammers tend to flood their targets with ads in the hopes that one of them will actually work. Similarly, if the survey offer is full of unbelievable testimonials of past participants, you are likely looking at a scam.

To help protect yourself from fraudulent activity, make sure to utilize your Benefits Plus® checking account with SeaComm! Once you upgrade your basic checking to Benefits Plus^®, you will gain access to a full range of fraud and identity-theft protection services, including fraud alerts, lost document recovery services, 90-day Purchase Protection, and much more. Click here for more information, or stop by your local SeaComm branch to enroll.

For complete information, terms, conditions and exclusions please visit www.benefits-plus.org or call 866-329-7587.

Stay informed with SeaComm’s Fraud Center. As your credit union, we want to keep you and your finances safe. That’s why we created our Fraud Center, which includes valuable resources to help educate and empower our members to protect their assets and identities. Click here to get started!