Scams

I would say over 90% of the websites you see promising that you will earn money online are scams. Here I will give a list of the most popular types of scams that you will find online.

Data Entry

The Promise- You enter data online for various companies, and get paid $1000's of dollars a day just for that.

The Reality- You pay a large fee to sign up, then never hear back from them again.

Stuffing Envelopes

The Promise- You get sent envelopes, you fill them, you get paid.

The Reality- I've never actually fallen victim to this one, but ask yourself, why would a company need envelope stuffers, with the technology we have these days? I've recieved emails from people who have spent hours stuffing envelopes, yet never recieving a check at the end of the month.

Assembly

The Promise- They send you materials, you assemble them into a product, you send them back and get a paycheck.

The Reality- You spend hours assembling the products, only to find out when you send them back that they aren't up to company standards, so you won't be getting paid. Also, the products you want to assemble are normally things that no one would ever buy- ask yourself why they need so many people to help manufacture them?

Referrals

The Promise- A free iPod, $1000, ... the list goes on.

The Reality- In fact, these aren't scams as such, in fact they are often run by reputable businesses such as Apple, Microsoft, et cetera. The catch is, you have to refer 10 people, and each of those people have to refer 10 people to get your product. It is possible, but rather hard to achieve.

You've won the lottery!

The Promise- You've won a huge amount of money, they need your bank details so they can transfer it to you

The Reality- This is probably one of the best known scams. They are super easy to spot- normally it will be a lottery from outside the country (so how did I enter it?) and you'll either have to give your bank details, or send them some money (often to Nigeria). It might sound obvious as hell, but there are people who fall for this.