CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Watch out for survey scams. Con artists email you, offering you $100s if you answer some basic questions. But it's a trick to get your personal information or put a virus on your electronic device.
Kannapolis resident Tyann Moore is out of work, on disability, and looking to earn extra money.
"I went to a website and it said, 'Well, you could make money taking surveys.' And I said, 'Let me give it a try.'" She says emails started rolling in right away, one survey after another. How many of these surveys did she get? "Wow," she said. "Probably 20."
Each email offered her $100s for filling out the survey. One even offered $1,000. She did and gave up personal information along the way.
"My address, my email, my telephone number," she said and how she votes and her financial status. One survey asked her, "What is your yearly household income? How would you describe your credit rating?"
Police said avoid these emails, no matter how tempting they look.
"They're going to look very, very attractive for you to maybe make some quick money. And, anything that looks too good to be true, it probably is,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer Johnathan Frisk said.
Some of the surveys Moore got had companies' names on them, like Whitehall Research and Quick Side Income. Action 9 researched them. Both have Massachusetts addresses, but neither seems to exist.
While Moore never got a penny, the scammer got something: her private data. "I thought they were legitimate, but," she said and shook her head.
Make sure you:
- Delete emails from strangers.
- Don't click on any links.
- Don't respond with personal information.