Personal Finance Tips

Want to make money watching adverts? It’s not as easy as it seems…

Chantal Swainston

23.03.23 (updated more than 1 year ago)

Read time 2 minutes

When Anna received a message on Telegram that said she could make money watching adverts, she was sceptical. But after more research, and a conversation with one of the company’s recruiters, she felt reassured that the offer was genuine.

Once set up, Anna watched adverts as instructed and received money into a designated account the recruiter had recommended. When she was offered the chance to sign up to a subscription that gave her even more money and benefits for watching these adverts, she jumped at the chance. But soon after she paid the subscription, the website disappeared. Anna realised she had fallen victim to a scam.

When it comes to get-rich-quick schemes unfortunately if it looks too good to be true, it very often is. A range of fake companies are encouraging people to work from home or remotely, and receive payments for watching and sharing videos or posts on social media. While the easy money looks appealing to many, it’s actually the front for a scam.

So what can you do to keep safe?

If it looks too good to be true, it often is.

The global economy is tough right now for many reasons. Being able to make money doing something as simple as watching videos, from the comfort of your own home, is naturally appealing.

But there’s a reason such jobs don’t really exist. Making actual money doing these activities is highly unlikely, and so often they’re the front of a scam where the money being ‘earned’ is yours. Similar to when investment terms look too good to be true, employment opportunities where the work is easy and the ‘pay’ is generous, are likely to be more harm to your bank balance than good.

If you have to pay money to earn money, it should be a red flag…

When it comes to jobs, it’s unusual to have to pay to get one. Genuine recruiters will have a role they need to fill and are paid by the business using them, and often they’ll be in touch via email or LinkedIn, rather than something like Telegram. Similarly, if work needs to be done, and deserves compensation, it’s unlikely you’d pay for the opportunity to do that work.

When it comes to ‘work’ opportunities that require an up-front investment (such as having to buy products yourself to sell on, or subscribing to a company to watch content for money), you should be aware that whoever you're speaking to is earning money from you, not the other way around.

Don’t be convinced by ‘earning’ small amounts of money…

It can be easy to receive some payments from a scam like this and think, “if it were really a scam - they wouldn’t have paid me”. However this is a clever trick used by scammers to encourage you to trust them. By giving you reassurance that the work is legitimate, you’re more likely to invest and commit yourself to doing and spending more.

In some cases, scammers will show you fake profits, or screens with increased earnings to make the scam seem more believable.

The money you receive back is always less than the money you put in, so the scammers will profit from your money in the long run.

When it comes to earning money online, there are plenty of real ways to do this. However if the returns are too good to be true, you have to pay to get the work, and you’re being given small payments early to prove legitimacy, you should be very careful as you are at risk of falling victim to a popular scam.

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