So I’m a recent college grad and I’ve been job hunting. Obviously, since I have resumes at Monster and CareerBuilder, I get job emails from scammers that start with the usual, “I came across your resume at Monster/CareerBuilder”. These are the things that sound suspiciously like selling CutCo knives, for example (although you see a fancy title like “Market Analyst”). Some of them are not scams but are links to their headhunting or contracting companies. Fair enough.
But I recently got an email, and I’m not sure if it’s a scam or legit. My doubts say scaam because of the money they say you can make, but here’s the email:
I went to their website, and while it’s nothing to write home about, it doesn’t necessarily look like a scam. I went to the “Online researcher” section and it’s a bit vague.
So, Dopers, is my Scammy-sense right here, or does this seem possibly legit?
It seems like a $40-an-hour job would not go begging, especially if it had so much flexibility. If you worked 32 hours a week, you would be making over $60K a year. Unless your resume is getting other hits in that range, if it seems to good to be true…
When I’ve been paid for responding to surveys, the company probably paid me $20 for an hour’s work.
Great, and they may offer you $40 in an hour, but I would wager it’s not a $40 per hour job.
Only thing that really lights off my scam detector is who advertises how much money your going to make as a key part of the ad.
Many of these types of programs could very well pay $40 and hour but will they consistently provide you with even 10 hours a week of work? How much are they promising a year?
If they don’t and you have to stay available for them, I would keep looking.
If full time jobs like this were real and actively recruiting I would probably live on a cruise ship and work from there.
I have often wondered with all of the little programs like this how hard would it be to “live off the internet”
Hell the way some of the stuff is going I am thinking it is a far more reliable income to become a pro MMORPG player selling off your treasure via auctions or third party item resellers.
World of Warcraft $50, Fed Ex shipping $12.50, Getting a friend into a game that will take his immortal soul and turn him into a gaming zombie…priceless
Did it actually say they would pay you $40/hr or you could make $40/hr ? If it says make, its likely commission only, with minimums.
So in a day, you call 40 people, three buy the product, take the survey, whatever. Their minimum is 10/day. You worked all day, made money for them, but none for yourself.
The vagueness of the web page is a definite red flag. Companys tell you what they’re selling (and in specific terms) and don’t give a lot of buzzwords. Compare their page to the page for The Harris Poll. Note that Harris gives much more information, as well as mentions some of the results of their work. Kray is vague in all aspects.
I’d avoid them. At the very least, ask for references, other clients, etc., and drop them like a hot bit of lava if they mention that you have to pay them a cent.
And from their web site, here is what appears to be the job description:
“Kray is seeking individuals that would be survey takers. As a survey taker you would be emailed surveys to complete online. You would be paid for each survey you complete. Typically it would take 10 - 15 minutes to complete a survey; and, depending on the client you would be paid from $10 - $75 per completed survey.”
Well, IF I wanted to share my personal information with these people, I might do it to make some money on the side. I guess.
I went back to their site after a few minutes.
The right column has “Ads by google”.
Ummmm… WTF?
They’re running a commercial business and trying to add to their revenue by hosting ads on their site?
They’re either losers or scammers.
They may be essentially spamming you with the bait email and then trying to make money on click-throughs from the Google ad.
I’ve worked for both Harris and Cutco. I actually sold a crapload of knives, and I must say, they are some fine knifeys. Cutco offers a base salary, provided you schedule 40hrs/week in appointments with potential clients.*
Harris does NOT pay you in cash for polls, unless you are on their physician panel, and then you get paid. Of course, the physician panel is rarely tapped, and isn’t exactly a cash-cow for any MD. Regular poll people get “HI Points” which vary based on your usefullness in a particular survey. One always gets a minimum of 30 points, and it can go up to 300 for a long survey, especially if you are a weird niche group. No person gets a survey more often than every 10 days. Once you have accumulated enough points, you can get stuff- magazine subscriptions, chotchkes, key chains, VHS movies, etc. You also get the opportunity to be in a drawing for a monthly $10k prize, which really does get awarded to genuine humans.
Meanwhile, it is a shitty place to work, they tried to deny me and several other ladies maternity leave, and in general are a mind-numbing and awful place to work. May I never have to write another healthcare related market survey again. shudder
In order to determine if you are a suitable candidate you must complete a sample survey. The results of the survey will determine how often we will be able to use you for other surveys. Please complete the sample survey as honestly as possible. You MUST complete the entire survey to be considered for a position."
I filled it out using a fake name and a email address tracked to this site (kraygroup@mydomain.com). After I filled out the survey it just said “thank you”. So far no email.
It could just be a spam email collector.
If I start getting spam to that address we’ll know.
The reasons people have listed so far were the reasons I was figuring it wasn’t quite legit. I wouldn’t have a problem (in theory) with taking polls or doing online reasearch as a part-time job to get some cash flow while I’m searching, but that’s probably the semi-desperation that they’re hoping for.
I know I am not cut out to do sales and would only do that as a last resort.
I would check it out just for laughs. When I first graduated college I answered a couple ads like that:
Company 1
Go to some rented office space. No one tells me what the actual job is, they just grin like a bunch of brainwashed idiots and tell me it’s “wonderful” and to wait for the sales presentation. Turns out the actual job is selling Britta-like water filters door to door for commission in some bizzare pyramid scheme.
Company 2
Basically the Ben Affleck scene from Boiler Room
Company 3
Once again, no one tells me what the deal is. Next thing I know, I’m stuck spending the day with this asshole sales rep and some fat shit of a trainee selling junk to stores and gas stations in Norwalk, CT. After wasteing 5 hours with this jerk, listening to him brag about how much money he makes he finally drives me back to the sales office so he and the trainee can go run inside and “ring the bell” to celebrate his first sale. I key his car and drive home
The scam.com message board has a thread on “Grey Marketing” that, on page 2, begins discussing the Kray Group. Nothing is posted that provides incontrovertible evidence that these people should be dropped over the Marianas Trench tied to a few thousand kilos of scrap metal, but it does not inspire much confidence. (And the silly little shill that pops in with a glowing testimonial while saying nothing about the job is kind of interesting.)
So if you take 15 minutes to complete a survey and you get paid $10, voila! That’s your $40 an hour starting salary. See, they’re telling the exact truth.
Now just sit back and wait for the 32 surveys a day needed to make it a full-time job. :smack:
