Online data entry: scam or legitimate opportunity?
One of the most available work from home jobs you'll find on the internet is in the field of data
entry. Even if you're new to a computer,
have no training as typist and can only type ten words per minute, these offers
are liable to popup on a web page you visit or in your inbox on a daily basis.
What's the big idea
behind the plethora of data entry programs?
And why are they suddenly being labeled as scams? The answer is rather simple: many companies
are being wrongfully classified due to their misleading advertising and
promotional efforts. In actuality, these
services are affiliate marketing programs similar to Affiliate Cash Vault and
Wealthy Affiliate. The programs
themselves work well for these purposes but you wouldn't know it by reading the
advertised claim. Some of them read like
this: "Fill out a few Google Ads and get paid today!". While you are entering data, it takes much
more than that to be successful in this line of work.
Discerning the real job from the scam
Many people who fall into
the data entry trap believe that the task is as simple as typing in a few words
and money just magically appears into their account. After a while, they learn that much more work
is involved. From there they become
frustrated, disappointed and the word "scam" is used rather loosely.
In simple terms, a data
entry ad may or may not be a scam - most
of the time it's not. The way a
particular company presents the service is what gives it such a bad
reputation. Data entry or type-at-home
programs can be very profitable for anyone with the required level of skills
and motivations. At the same time, you
must realize that these jobs are based more on affiliate marketing opposed to
simple data entry. If you are looking
for a program that strictly involves entering data, you may wish to inquire
within paid survey programs such as Survey Scout. There are also genuine data entry programs
that fall into this category - for a price, Freelance Work Exchange is one of
the most popular.
In the end, it's safe to
say that many data entry programs and services are to blame for marketing
themselves with strategies commonly employed by scam artists. This has nothing to do with the quality of
their product, yet the way they represent it and market themselves to the
public.
Data entry is one of the
most sought after job positions on the web.
Every job board you visit is congested with 10, 20, 30 or more openings. While you should practice caution when
approaching any online business venture, most of these jobs are actually
genuine.
How the data entry scam works
Now that we have cleared
the air, let us demonstrate an example of how a true data entry scam works:
You come across an advertisement
stating that a particular company is seeking typists. They offer you an opportunity to make an
unlimited amount of income for practically no work. Your experience level is of no importance;
all you're required to do is send in a non-refundable fee of $20. The fee covers an introductory package
complete with instructions on everything it takes to get started. In most cases, the package you receive will
come via email. After downloading the
document, you are instructed to take the same ad you just read, copy and paste
it onto a few job boards, and wait for another sucker to pay you $20 for
it. Sound like a scam? Sure does.
While some will simply chalk it up as a loss, others will continue this
ad nauseam until web surfers smarten up and refuse to fall for it.
