Often people ask me how they can earn extra money, and I am always happy to share what I do with them. Some just need a few extra dollars to get through in a month, while others are looking for changes in life, replacing the type of income. From the comfort of your home, the Internet can be used to perform any of these tasks. All that is required is to search a little and research a bit to find legitimate opportunities. Once you have opened, you need to apply ideas and lessons, or they will be useless for you.
Just to give you an idea, as an example: I have been making a living for more than two decades by providing commercial services (credit card processing) to clients in my local area. It was a job selling "on the street." I thoroughly enjoyed the work and built long-lasting relationships with my clients that still exist today. The key is to take care of my merchant; they stay with me and guide others. The main problem, if you want to call it, is that my market was limited by geography and the number of people I could contact in one day. Do not get me wrong, it brought me a six-figure income and provides for residual income, which continues to pay. But in 2005 I was diagnosed with cervical cancer of stage 4. The resulting radiation reduced my vocal strength and vocal endurance, thereby taking me out of the field. What a blessing ! What happened next is that I created a website to educate merchants on how the industry works, draft articles were compiled, and an e-mail course on Understanding Credit Card Processing was offered. As a result, my market is now nationwide, not just western Michigan. And with the help of the Internet and electronic signatures, I can do new things from the comfort of my home. Business is booming, and my client base continues to grow, and my income is also growing. But this is not what I am writing this article.
Although my main business is largely dependent on autopilot, I began to look for other ways to make money online to help, first of all, family members, then friends and acquaintances. Now I have people I have never seen met, because I help people and take care of them. Believe me, there are many legitimate alternative sources of income, and then again, there are some real SCAMS, which, unfortunately, are people. This is what this article is about.
As you can imagine, since I have been actively working online for many years, I receive a lot of letters, and many of them, frankly, spam. From time to time, something looks into my curiosity, so I continue on. A few weeks ago I received an email searching for Mystery Shoppers. I thought I would look at it for some people who asked to do something to earn a few dollars. Now I know that this is a legal type of business, because I have friends in retail, and they talked about “buying,” so management could see how they do it. So, I answered by answering a few questions. A few days passed and, guess what, I was approved, and the package for my first assignment will come soon. Then my wife and I went to Maui for a couple of weeks (a nice perk to make our own schedule and have a disposable income). When I was gone, I received a letter saying that my first assignment was by mail. Shortly after, I received the following email:
“Please be informed that you did not provide updated information about the package that was delivered to you via USPS in order to fulfill the task of the secret buyer. Please familiarize yourself with the importance of timeliness in returning a completed assessment.
We will be happy to hear from you soon.
So, I replied that I was outside the city and I would get to it as soon as I return. Last week, when we returned home, the Priority Mail package with detailed instructions and a “Cash receipt” for $ 1,875.53 was enough ... wow, this Mystery Shopper thing looks pretty good ... yes! So, the instructions were to deposit a cashier's check into my account, pay a commission of $ 200 for my work, and go to Wal-Mart and buy something for $ 51 that I could save. And I had to specify the address of the store, the employee, the product purchased and the cost, etc. “Evaluation”. Then I had to take the balance of the deposit check in cash and shed $ 812 each on two individuals through the money transfer service and “evaluate” both these transactions. At the moment it was completely obvious that it was completely SCAM, and not at all like the legal tasks of the Mystery Shopper. Just for a grin, I contacted the Credit Union that the Cashier check was conducted, and they responded as follows:
Thank you for contacting us.
You're right. This is a fraudulent check. We recommend that you destroy the check in order to remove it from circulation. You can also file a police report if you wish, but we do not require it. This is already being investigated.
Mystery Shopping is a legitimate business, and there are legitimate companies that hire and will pay for these types of services. Do your thorough research before making any decisions, and NEVER PAY them for the task ... they pay you. A list of companies that hire mystery shoppers is available for free, and legal tasks for mystery shoppers are listed online for free.
If this is what you’re interested in, visit the Mystery Shopping Providers (MSPA) Supplier Association, find your database of mystery shopper appointments and learn how to apply for them.
I wish you good luck in your endeavors, whatever they may be. Thanks for reading.
