Making money online is a dream for many people, as it can give a lot of freedom and potentially also a lot of money.

This has however also lead to a lot of online scams, where companies and individuals exploit this dream just to make money themselves, and often leave people who join more broke and with less hope.

In this article I therefore want to give you 7 signs to look for, so you know how to avoid making money online scams.

If you spot these signs, you have to be very careful about joining a program, as it is likely it will just end up taking your money without giving you any real chance of earning money online yourself.

What is a make money online scam?

There are different definitions of an online scam.

There are scams in the sense that they are outright illegal. I am no lawyer, so I will not give legal advice about when a program is legal or not.

But that a program technically is legal and stays within the boundaries of the law, does not mean you can just safely join it.

There are many online money making systems that are on the border but still able to operate, as it takes quite a bit to close down a company. So there are unfortunately many programs, where you can end up losing a lot of money.

The reason these online scams exist is that so many of us dream about being able to work on our own terms, and be able to work whenever and where ever we want to. Working online is perfect for this.

Whenever there is a lot of people interested in a topic, there will unfortunately be a lot of people that try to find the easiest way to lure as much money as possible out of people. Often they make crazy claims that feed this dream and give a very low cost for this – only to have a lot of upsells after you join, so suddenly you have ended up investing hundreds or thousands of dollars. And this is how they make money, and in most cases you never get anything of value in return.

I have seen this myself, and I was at some point almost giving up on the idea of being able to make money online, as it seemed there where only scams available, where it would end up costing thousands of dollars to join, and where you did not really get anything of value in return. In many cases I found out the only way to make money on the programs was to promote it to others and have them waste their time and money to make a profit myself.

I have however found out that it luckily is possible to make money online in a legit and ethical way, but it took a lot of time and effort to find a legit way to do this. So I am now hoping with this article to be able to help you navigate through the online money making offers and avoid the scams.

Recommended: Click to see the process I am using to make money online legitimately

What can you do, if you have been scammed?

If you have already been scammed, or if you ever run into a scam, you have a few different options.

You should of course first of all contact the owner of the program to try to get your money back. Sometimes they will agree to this not to cause any trouble for themselves. But as the people behind the scams are often not concerned about the welfare of other people, getting a refund can sometimes be very difficult or even impossible.

You then have a few more options.

Complain officially:
If you think you have been scammed badly, and in a way that potential breaks the laws and the rules of the country you live in, you can make an official complaint.

It is different from country to country, where you can complain. In the US, it is the Federal Trade Commission.

This can potentially help close down online scams, but it will not be a fast process. And the problem is that some programs operate in countries, where it is not really possible for the FTC or other governmental bodies to do anything.

It can however still have its effect. An example are for example when FTC closed down one of the big online money making programs called MOBE.

This was a program that was one of the most promoted make money online systems for many years. But after many complaints about deceptive methods and people losing thousands of dollars due to false claims, FTC decided to close it down.

So it can help to file complaints in some cases. But it can also be a long process.

Leave reviews:
Another way where you can immediately help warn others are by leaving reviews about the scam program, so other people can see your experiences.

You are for example welcome to use the search bar here at the top of OnlineZeroToHero to look for the program you have a bad experience with. I have made reviews of many online programs, and would be happy to have you share your experiences in the comment section below the reviews, so you can help warn other people.

If you can not find the program you would like to leave your own review of, just leave a comment below this article, and I will then look into the program, and do a full review of it asap, so I can help to make other people aware.

How to spot online scams (7 signs to look for)

I have tested a lot of online money making programs, and I have seen a lot of crazy claims. The signs below are the most common signs a program is a scam.

Sign #1 – Become rich overnight

One of the biggest warning signs, when it comes to systems that claim to teach you to make money online is, when they claim you more or less can become rich overnight.

It is definitely possible to make really good money online, but it will NOT happen overnight. This is one of the biggest myths about making money online. Everything else is so fast online, so we expect that within just a few days, we will be able to make a living from it.

This is not the reality. Creating an online income takes time and effort like it does to create any other kind of business. The opportunities are huge, and the start up cost can be extremely low (if you avoid the scams), but do not expect to become successful overnight, and stay away from programs that promise this.

Sign #2 – Make money online without any effort

This is another big lie about making money online, and a claim the internet scams often use. It is the claim that you do not have to do any work yourself. You can just get a machine/program to do all the work for you.

There are definitely great online marketing tools that can make your life a lot easier, but there is no system or tool that can take care of everything for you.

They are tools, meaning something YOU can use to make your business more efficient, but not something that will take care of everything for you.

Any programs that claim they how found a solution or software, where you just have to do a few clicks, and then you can sit back and relax for the rest of your life, are full of BS.

They are just trying to get you to sign up, and then you will in most cases be pushed to keep paying for upgrades to get full access, and suddenly you have invested hundreds (or thousands) of dollars.

Sign #3 – The name of the program

This is closely related to the two signs above. Often the scam programs have a name that gives the impression that you can earn fast and easy money and live the jetset life.

So whenever you see a name like “instant cash”, “same day earnings”, autopilot money”, etc. be VERY careful.

The name alone of course cannot reveal, if a program is a scam or not, as the person behind it maybe is just bad at picking names:-) But the name is definitely an indication and something to be aware of.

Sign #4 – High income claims guaranteed

Some programs make it sound like you are guaranteed to start making thousands of dollars within days after joining their program.

In general no program can guarantee you a certain kind of income. Many companies are careful about claiming this, as they know that can get them into legal trouble.

However, many programs imply that you will make guaranteed money, as they explain how bulletproof their system is.

Be very careful about programs that make it sound like you are guaranteed to make easy money with them. If you check their terms or disclaimer, which can usually be found through a small link at the bottom of the page, you will see they most often reveal that their claims are not necessarily true.

So if a program on their website make it sound like you will easily make money and that it is a bulletproof system, make sure to check out their disclaimer. Most times this will say that the results are not necessarily a representation of average earnings but an example of exceptional results.

If a company on one hand tries to present a system as an easy solution and a guaranteed way to make money, and on the other hand says the opposite in their disclaimer, you should be careful.

Sign #5 – No information about the owner

There are a lot of online scams that do not have any information about the owner on the website. Sometimes there will be a picture and even a name, but in many cases it is just a stock photo and a very generic name, so it is impossible to find any info about the owner.

If a program tries to hide who is really behind the company, there are good chances it in general has something to hide.

Beware that just because the system does show info about the real owner, it does not mean that is program is 100% safe. I have seen several programs where the owner is definitely a real person and is not afraid to show his face and name, but it is still a BS program not worth joining.

So do not use this sign as a sole indicator of a scam, but take it into consideration together with the other signs.

Sign #6 – Only few spots left

A very used method to get you to sign up without thinking first is to make it sound like it is a very time limited offer or like there are only a few spots available.

The reason for this is that they do not want you to go out and do research first and find out it is not worth joining. They want you to join, before you get the time to think it through.

There are of course in general offers that sometimes are time limited, but very rarely do legit offers have a very strict time limit, or a system with only 10 spots.

Think about – if you really had a system that worked to help people make money automatically online, and you made money every time someone joined, would there really be limited spots?

It is just a trick to push you into signing up fast. So be careful when you see these claims about only a few spots available, as it is often scams that uses this trick.

Sign #7 – Exaggerated video testimonials

Testimonials are a great way to see what other people say about a product. A trick the scams often use are to include video testimonials of supposed users that tell how fantastic it is.

Beware that such reviews can however be ordered online very cheaply on a site like fiverr and similar sites.

On fiverr, I have several times found people that have given video testomonials for programs I have reviewed. They offer these reviews for money no matter the product, and even though they have never tried the product themselves.

In my opinion this is a very unethical and dirty trick, and I do not understand anyone will even offer to make videos for money like this.

However, of course not all user reviews or testimonials are fake. But you can often spot the videos that are. They often sound very generic and like actors, and are very exaggerated.

So beware that even though there might be some great video testimonials, they are not necessarily real. Look for how exaggerated they sound, and if they sound fake, there is a good chance they are.

Final thoughts

Creating an online income is a great way to get freedom and a good income, and it is definitely possible to learn no matter your previous experience.

However, there are A LOT of online scams to be aware of, and most people never find a legit way to make money online, and give up after running into several scams – I almost did this myself. I therefore hope this article will help you to avoid online scams and be able to spot them, and at least know when to be careful and do further research.

After searching for a long time, I myself found a realistic process that actually works and can help create an online income. It requires effort and time, but it is realistic and legit. You can check out my FREE guide showing you the method I use to make money online, if you want to know how I finally found a way to make money online that was not a scam.

 

If you have any comments, questions, or have any experience with online scams yourself, I would love to hear from you below. Also, if you know about a scam, I have not yet reviewed, feel free to give a tip below, and I will asap do a review and help warn other people against it.