Why Have a Mobile Friendly Website
Blog

Why Have a Mobile Friendly Website? – You DON’T NEED ONE If…

Why have a mobile friendly website? 

Is it really all that important? Can you get away with just a regular old website? And besides… What the heck is a mobile friendly website anyhow?

I'm sure you've heard the term before "mobile friendly", or maybe "mobile optimized", or even "mobile first". There are various terms out there but they all refer to the same thing, which I'm just going to refer to as mobile friendly from here on.

The truth is that, while you don't absolutely need a mobile friendly website, it can be a big help and if you don't already have one then you will likely notice big differences by converting yours to a mobile friendly version.

In the rest of this short article I will be going over what exactly a mobile friendly website is, why this is important, how to find out if you have one, and if you don't a quick fix to the problem.

What Is a Mobile Friendly Website?

Okay, so what exactly is a mobile friendly website well… In simple terms it is just a website that is optimized for mobile devices, meaning that people can visit your website from smart phones and tablets without any problem.


But what is it about certain websites that makes them mobile friendly and others that make them not so friendly?


Below I have a list of some of the top criteria for a site being considered mobile friendly.


What makes it mobile friendly?


1) Pages Are Responsive

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The number one criteria that a website must meet to be mobile friendly is responsiveness. But what do I mean by this?


When I say that pages are responsive, I am meaning that the different pages of a website respond to the varying sizes of screens.


If you were simply to take the view of a website from a desktop screen and make it smaller so that you can see on a mobile device, this would be extremely "un-user-friendly". It would be very difficult for visitors to see what they are doing and they would have to be constantly zooming in and out, scrolling around in every direction, and it would just be a mess.


However, this is the problem that some sites have. If you go to a website that is not mobile friendly, you are just viewing the website on a mobile phone as if you were doing it on a desktop computer.


A mobile friendly website will reformat everything to make the experience much more simple. You will be able to simply scroll down on your mobile device without scrolling side to side, having to zoom in and out, and all that nonsense.


Can you simply adjust the settings on your website to make it mobile friendly? The answer is no. Unless you are a master coder, you will have to get a theme that is already mobile friendly, which I will discuss shortly.


2) Fonts Are Easily Readable


Another aspect to the mobile-friendliness is readable fonts. This is something that you can manually adjust on your website and that everyone should be able to do on their own, if your theme allows it. But not all themes allow you to change the font style. That said, the default fonts for most themes are usually easy to read and are good to go.


The reason that font choice is a lot more important when it comes to mobile devices is simple… They are much smaller and that is already a disadvantage when it comes to readability.


3) Image Display

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Having optimal image display is also something that you could say is part of the criteria for being mobile friendly.


If you view your site on a mobile device, does it mess up the images? Does it make them incredibly hard to view?


This is something else that comes with the theme you have installed on your website. Some themes, such as the one I am using for example, optimize image placement and size for varying mobile device sizes.


4) Navigation

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Having mobile friendly navigation is also key. Being able to navigate a website on a smaller screen makes things a bit more difficult, so making it as easy as possible for visitors to get to where they want to go is a necessity.


Menus are very important when it comes to this. Have you ever been to a website on a mobile device that has some massive menu that takes forever just to look through? And maybe it took you 10 minutes just to find the menu in the first place? Yeah… This is not what you want.


Often mobile friendly websites will have a little menu icon that visitors can click on to expand a full menu. This is what you want because the menu is out of the way and allows for the screen, as small as it already is, to be filled with other things, yet it can be clicked on and expanded by the user at any time.


This is something else that just comes along with a mobile friendly website theme. If you are viewing this post right now on a mobile device then you should see something like what I am talking about because my website is mobile friendly.


5) Other Ways to Keep It Friendly


The truth is that there are many ways to keep your site mobile friendly, besides that of simply using a mobile friendly theme. I'm not going to go over all of them, but another good thing you should think about is keeping your paragraphs on the shorter side in breaking up your ideas and thoughts.


As I already went over, reading things on a small device is already hard enough, you don't want to make things harder than they need to be. You don't want to jumble everything together into one massive paragraph that might take a couple minutes to scroll through. Break things up into nice, easy to digest, bite sized pieces.


This is something you want to do regardless. It doesn't really matter if people are on mobile devices or not, but I would say that it is a bit more crucial when it comes to mobile users.

Why It Is Important

So why is this also important? I mean… I get it… If people visit my website from a mobile device and they have a rough experience than they are more likely to leave in a short period of time. But is it really all that important?


The answer is Yes, it is.


According to Statista, the global mobile internet user population was a massive 3.9 billion in October of 2018. In North America 38.67% of all Internet traffic came from mobile devices, 37.08% in your app, and as high as 61.09% in Asia.


And if you think that is a lot, get this… The traffic coming from mobile devices is projected to increase astronomically by 2021.

What the chart above shows is the amount of "exabytes" of data used on average per month for a given year. In 2016 the global mobile traffic added up to 7 exabytes of data per month, but in 2021 it is estimated to increase by 7x that amount.


Now you don't need to know what exactly an exabyte is or anything… The point is that mobile traffic is increasing a lot, all across the world, and if you want your website to be effective for whatever its purpose is, you are going to want it to be mobile friendly.


You Don't Need One If...


This section I put here just kind of as a joke. The only time you don't need a mobile friendly website is if you want to have some crappy website that many people can't even read and leave soon after they come across it.


But who would want that?

How to Find Out If You Have One?

Don't know if your website is mobile friendly or not? Well don't worry, finding out is pretty darn simple.


All you have to do is go to https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly, which is a free tool provided by Google, in order to find out.


When you click the link above and go to this website you will see the page displayed below where you will be prompted to enter the website you want to test… (You can enter any page on any website that you want to test)

Then you simply click the button to run the test and it will analyze your website. This may take a minute depending on the size of your website.


Then you will get the page shown below. It will either say your page is mobile friendly, or is not and it will also display an image of what your site looks like on a mobile device…

As you can see above, it did tell me that I have "page loading issues", but they turned out to be nothing for me to worry about… Just some scripts and stylesheets that didn't load, not actual pages.

Not Mobile Friendly? Here's a Fix

Years ago when smart phones were just becoming popular, it was rather difficult to make your website mobile friendly, simply because there weren't all that many mobile users yet and no one really cared about it, but nowadays it is pretty darn simple.


There are lots of different mobile friendly themes that you can get out there, both free themes and paid themes. A good mobile friendly theme will be responsive so that no matter what size of screen a visitor is viewing your website on it will be user-friendly, it will optimize image size for any device, it will make navigating your website easy, and so on.


Now I only have WordPress websites, so I only can speak for them, but all types of websites will have mobile friendly themes. And in case you are wondering, I use Thrive Themes. They have a variety of different mobile friendly themes that are conversion focused and work great.


So in closing, I hope you understand the importance of having a mobile friendly website if you didn't already. This is a big deal and not having one can massively affect success when it comes to the need to increase website conversions, whether it be selling a product, promoting a brand, getting people to opt into a mailing list, etc.


If you have any questions or comments, please leave them down below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can 🙂

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Finish Line Network Review
MLM's

Finish Line Network, Scam or Legit? – What They Won’t Tell You

In this review I’ll be going over the Finish Line Network in whether or not I think it is worth anyone’s time and/or money. It is being heavily promoted right now as a great opportunity to make money online, but of course you can’t always trust what you hear. Believe it or not… Not everything you hear online is true. But I’m sure you already know this… After all you are taking time right now to do some research into this opportunity and are wondering if this is all just a scam.

What you are told in the reality of things are often somewhat different. This is the case when it comes to Finish Line Network. People promoting this program are trying to make money off of you joining in so of course you are only going to get the good sides of the story, and not the downsides to it all. I, however, am not promoting Finish Line Network so I will not be actively trying to recruit you and. I’ll be giving my opinion as I see it.

Throughout this review I will go over a basic overview of the program, how it all works, the compensation plan, whether or not it is a pyramid scheme, three good reasons to avoid it and more.

Finish Line Network Review

A lot of high-level online marketers you make a lot of money are actively promoting Finish Line Network, which is how I came across in the first place. I know that Mack Mills (from Secret Income Formula, etc) and Michael Mansell of Team Mansell are both promoting this particular opportunity along with many others.

But anyways… Basically this is one of those online marketing programs that is promoted is a great way to make money online. People buy into it and then the way they are taught to make money online is by promoting it to other people. So you buy into it and then promote it to others.

The the system is already in place… Essentially all you have to do is work on the promotion and marketing of it in order to make money, but of course this is much easier said than done.

How It Works

There our four different product lines within the Finish Line Network program. These include the following…

You have your Silver subscription, Gold subscription, ePOD, and the high-ticket live event called Digital Domination.

I’m not going to get into much detail with each of these different products, but basically they are all online marketing products that will help you go out and sell the system… After all that is what it is all about… Buying in and then reselling it to other people.

The Silver and Gold subscriptions or more of your core memberships I guess you could say. With the Silver subscription you get access to the sales conversion app and with the Gold subscription you get access to monthly virtual live events among other things. The ePOD, which stands for Email Profits On Demand, is a product that is focused all on email marketing. And lastly, the Digital Domination Is a live events that you would actually attend in person and get to listen in on strategic talk from some top-level online marketers.

But there really isn’t much focus placed on the products themselves. Most of the focus is placed on reselling these products and earning commissions doing so. Once you buy one of the products you have the rights to then resell that product and earn commissions doing so. This is important… You only can earn commissions on what you already earn and you will see this makes a big difference in the compensation plan, which I will now dive into…

The Compensation Plan

Within the compensation plan there are five different ranks. These include…

  • Rising Star – Costs $20 each month to stay an active affiliate
  • 1 Star – Have to sell six Silver subscriptions
  • 2 Star – Have to sell six Gold subscriptions
  • 3 Star – Have to sell six ePOD packages
  • 4 Star – Have to sell six tickets to the Digital Domination live event

When you first join in you will start out as a Rising Star, and as such you will earn commissions that are split 50/50. The way this compensation plan works is that when a product is sold by someone, the commissions are always split between that person and their sponsor (a.k.a. the person that recruited them in) as long as you are both able to receive commissions from the particular sale.

Example: So just to give you a quick easy example… Let’s say you are a Rising Star and recruit someone in who purchases the Silver subscription. The Silver subscription costs $47 but only $25 is paid out in commissions. And… There’s something called the Bonus Pool that I will get to in a bit and $5 will be placed in this pool… Only $20 will be split between the seller in their sponsor.

The Bonus Pool:

For each sale that is made there will be 20% of that sale sent into the bonus pool. This is a pool of money that builds up based on the amount of sales from every single person in the network and the way members benefit from this is through receiving shares in the bonus pool.

When you sell a product 20% is sent to the bonus pool but you also receive shares for selling products. So money is taken away from your sale and given back basically. The higher you move up the ranks the more you will earn from this bonus pool, so it is very important to move up the ranks, which you do by selling more products and meeting certain requirements.

You Need To Spend Money To Make Money

These sorts of opportunities force members into buying their more expensive products with how the whole resell rights thing works… I’m talking about how you first have to purchase the product in order to sell and earn commissions doing such. If, for example, you only purchase the Silver subscription and then go out to promote Finish Line Network two other people, who let’s say buy in at the Gold subscription level… You will not earn anything from their purchase. Instead… This purchase will be passed up to the next person above you who is qualified to earn such commissions.

This is how they keep the money coming in. They get people to join in at the lower levels and then the system is set up to pretty much force them into buying the higher-ticket products just for the sake of earning larger commissions.

Pyramid Scheme

This doesn’t have your typical MLM structure where there are different levels set up and you earn commissions through a specified number of levels depending on your rank. However… They definitely are multiple levels within the compensation structure because of how commissions are passed up depending on who is commission qualified or not. Every sale is shared between at least two people, the seller in their sponsor, but many sales will be passed up further because not everyone is going to be commission qualified.

If you read about what the FTC considers a pyramid scheme you will find that the big difference lies on whether or not products are sold to the general public. Is the business actually going out and selling products the general public or are the only people purchasing the products that those that are also promoting the system? Well I think it is pretty obvious that in this case the large majority of people are only buying the products to resell them and make money doing so. I don’t really see anyone buying into this for the actual products alone.

So is it a pyramid scheme? This can be a tricky question to answer, but is definitely “shady” in my opinion and not something I am particularly fond of.

3 Good Reasons To Avoid This

#1 – Very Expensive

If you want a chance of making good money reselling the products from this network, you are going to have to spend a good amount of money before hand. Buying in at the Silver subscription level and selling this isn’t going to make you much of anything. If you want to be able to earn big money than you are going to have to purchase the big ticket items, such as the 3 year Gold subscription for $2997, ePOD four $1997, or the Digital Domination ticket for $997.

Ya… It gets expensive.

You should also know that the products here are extremely overpriced. They could be sold for a fraction of the price, but the prices are inflated to extreme numbers just so that affiliates can make higher commissions when they sell them to other people. There is no need for the prices to be this high but they are so high just for the sake of making money.

#2 – A Shady Business Model

Business models like this are ones that you usually want to try to avoid. Just think about it… This opportunity is advertised as a great way to make money online… You buy into it to make money online and then you are just pushed to make money online by selling it to other people.

Also, recently the FTC has been cracking down on similar make money online programs. MOBE was one of their more recent takedowns which was shut down for being a scam and it was a pretty darn similar business model.

#3 – Just Not As Easy As It Seems

It may sound incredibly easy… The program is already in place for you and all you have to do is promote the products. Easy enough, right? Well… Just think about it for a second. When you came across this opportunity what did you do? You are suspicious of it and this led you to do some extra research and eventually come across my review which you are reading now. Many other people are going to act the same way… People don’t just buy into these make money online opportunities as you might think they do.

In order to make good money you’re going to have to push the higher ticket products on people in these are massively overpriced as I have already discussed.

Is There Any Reason To Join?

I guess the answer to this question all depends on what you are looking for. Are you looking to promote a program that sucks you in and pushes you to go out and promote the same darn program to other people? Are you looking to buy into a program that sells products to help you promote the program? Where is the value in this?

Sure… The products and training you receive could be applied to any online business, but the focus here is on getting people to promote Finish Line Network to other people.

And of course let’s not forget how expensive it is to get involved in a program like this.

Overall… It is just definitely not something that I recommend. For a cheaper and much more affordable opportunity I would highly suggest to anyone reading this to take a look at Wealthy Affiliate. This is the program I joined back in 2015 when I first started looking for ways to make money online. To make a long story short… I now make a living working online which goes to show that it does work.

Questions or comments? Please leave them below and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can 🙂

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Wealthy Affiliate Black Friday Special
Training

Wealthy Affiliate Black Friday Special 2018

What is the Wealthy Affiliate Black Friday special and is it really all that "special"?

Maybe you got an email about the Black Friday special that Wealthy Affiliate is having from me or somebody else, maybe you saw an ad for it, whatever the case… I'll tell you all you need to know about it.

Just like pretty much every other business out there, Wealthy Affiliate is offering a massive discount for the black Friday holiday, if you want to call it a holiday. This makes the offer all the more enticing and passing it up can be regrettable. But before I get into the cost and what all you get with this special discount, I first want to share with you my story with Wealthy Affiliate…

My Story - From $0 to Over $6k Per Month!
... Working For Myself Online

As you see from the title, I am now making over $6000 per month thanks to Wealthy Affiliate. This all comes from working online implementing what Wealthy Affiliate has taught me and using the tools this place has provided me with.

So if you are wondering if you can really make money with Wealthy Affiliate, the answer is YES.

I started out back in 2015 with absolutely no experience and no one to help me. After stumbling across Wealthy Affiliate, I soon realized it was a game-changer.

To make a very long story very short, it took me a while but I now make a living working online and I am very grateful for having come across Wealthy Affiliate in the first place and for not having given up early on.

And when I say I make "over $6k" per month I am actually speaking on the conservative side. You can see from the example below that I sometimes make well over $6000 in a given month, but I just say $6000 because I have been consistently making over this amount for a while now. 

Below you can see some of the many screenshots of the money I make online, going into my PayPal and bank account.

Starting off, we have money coming in from Panthera Interactive (an affiliate network)...

*I'm not going to get into what these companies are and what types of products I'm promoting to make this money. Just know that this money is made via affiliate marketing, which is when you promote products online and earn commissions when you help make sales (which is what is taught at WA).

$759.20 from a single source! And guess what… I made even more the previous month… Making $926.40... 


And we can't forget about Google AdSense. I don't make all that much from this advertising service, but an extra couple hundred dollars a month isn't too shabby…

These are just some of the many examples I can give you from my many online streams of income, not counting others like Amazon Associates for example. Waking up to emails like that pictured below happens on a regular basis… And it is all the result of hard work and the help from Wealthy Affiliate.


 







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Easy Cash Concepts scam
"Get Rich Quick", Easy Money Scams

Is Easy Cash Concepts a Scam? – Unfortunately, Yes It Is!

Easy Cash Concepts (at easycashconcepts.com) is supposedly some website that has a new amazing work from home opportunity what you can make a massive $9000-$12,000 per month, but is a scam? Unfortunately… The answer is Yes. This website is a complete scam and in this review I’ll be proving exactly this.

I’m guessing you came across the website and things seemed a bit suspicious to you. The opportunity probably sounded a little bit too good to be true and things just weren’t adding up. You got that gut feeling that it could possibly be a scam so you decided to do a little extra research, thus bringing you to my review here. And well… It is a good thing you landed here because there are a lot of nasty online scams out there that you don’t want to be falling victim to.

But anyways… Let’s get on with this review…

Easy Cash Concepts Review

On the website there is talk about this “Jamie Taylor” lady who was supposedly once struggling to make ends meet but now is making a ton of money working from home. The story goes that she lost her job, unsuccessfully look for new jobs, and eventually started working from home after coming across this amazing system.

And apparently all you have to do to get started with this system is fill out some form  at Easy Cash Concepts, follow the instructions and set up your account, and then you will be making money that you can deposit into your bank account.

Sounds a little bit too good to be true doesn’t it?

But what happens if you actually click these links that are all over the page? Well… You are then directed to another website about how you can “turn your smart phone or computer into a digital money machine”. On this website there is no mention of “Easy Cash Concepts” and there is no mention about how you actually be making money online. All they tell you is that “you’re one step away from your payday” and all you have to do is fill out some form to see if it is available in your area…

Some Red Flags

Well of course it is a major red flag that there is no mention of how you will actually be making money, and it is also another red flag that once you are directed to the form there is no mention of the “Easy Cash Concepts” system, but besides these there are also a fair number of other red flags that I will go over.

First off, the news clip that plays on the website is very misleading. It lead you to believe that this particular work at home opportunity has been “featured in the media”, when in reality as not. Yes, this short news broadcasts is real, but it has absolutely nothing to do with this Easy Cash Concepts opportunity. Basically just talks about people working from home and all the potential that is out there, but is in no way related to this.

Your Profit Team is another scam that I recently reviewed that uses news broadcasts like this.

Another big red flag is that the image shown of “Jamie Taylor” and her family is a fake.

I have reviewed many online scams in the past so I am always suspicious of what I am shown in told, which is why decided to run a reverse Google image search of this picture. The result… I found out that this is actually a stock photo that is available for purchase as you can see below…. In other words, it is not “Jamie Taylor”!

In fact, I doubt that this Jamie Taylor character even exists. It is likely just a made up fictitious character that has been fabricated to promote this online scam. I see this sort of thing happening all the time so it is by no means out of the ordinary.

It’s Nothing More Than An Advertorial

Believe it or not, the whole Easy Cash Concepts thing is a completely fake opportunity. In fact, the website in which this opportunity is presented is completely fake. It is made to look like a news website, but is not by any means. It is nothing more than an advertorial, as you can see it is stated at the top of the website.

What is an advertorial?

It is an advertisement that is set up in a way to look like a newspaper editorial, but it is not. They can be very misleading because they can seem like legitimate and credible opportunities when in reality they can be complete lies, as this one is.

An advertorial like this is a good example of “fake news”.

Another example of a scam that makes use of advertorials is Real Profits Online.

Recommendation for People Looking to Make Money Online

Since you are looking into this opportunity to make money online, which turned out to be a scam, I’m going to take this time to give you my recommendation. I have been making money online since 2015 and actually make a living doing so.

Basically what I do is promote products online and earn commissions when I help make sales, all from small websites that anyone can create. Not only is this a legitimate and sustainable way to make money online, but it is also something that I find to be particularly good for beginners to get started with. Why? Well because it is not something that requires an investment to get started with and you don’t have to worry about selling your own product online or anything like that… You simply promote products that already exist.

But I’m not going to get into it all that much here. What I suggest for anyone reading this that may be slightly interested is to take a look at how I went from $0 to over $6000 per month online. Here you will learn exactly what I do, how it all works, and how I suggest beginners to get started based on my own knowledge and experience.

Please leave any comments or questions down below in the comment section. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can 🙂

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Is Sweatcoin a Scam
Apps That Pay You

Is The Sweatcoin App a Scam? – In This Review, What You Need to Know

Can you really get paid for being active… For the steps you take on a daily basis? It sounds like one heck of a strange concept, but with the Sweatcoin app you can… Or at least that is what they say. But is this the real deal and can you really make money with this or is the Sweatcoin app a scam that is just going to be a waste of your time?

After coming across this app I knew I had to write a review on it to let others know what they're getting into. Yes, you really can make money by simply being active and doing what you already do, without changing your lifestyle or daily routine at all. However, I see a lot of reviews out there acting like this app is the greatest thing ever and like you can make tons of easy money with that, when the reality is different.

In my review here I plan on leaving no stone unturned. I will be going over what exactly this app is, how it works and how they pay you, using the app, how much money you can realistically make, rewards, complaints and more. I'll be going over the goods and the bads of the app in an unbiased approach.

For some this app may be worth downloading and using, for others maybe not… After reading this review you will know whether or not it is right for you.

Sweatcoin App Review

App Name: Sweatcoin

Type: Paid for being active

Cost: Free to use

Recommended?: Overall, yes

SweatCoin App
Click Here to Get The App
Quick Navigation
What Is The Sweatcoin App?
How Can They Possibly Pay You For Being Active?
Tracking Steps
Using The App
How Much Money Can You Realistically Make?
The Referral Program
Rewards
Complaints
Pros v Cons
Scam or Not?
Conclusion: Is This App Worth Your Time?

What Is The Sweatcoin App?

The Sweatcoin App is a very innovative new app that is free to use and rewards its users for being active, whether it be walking around, jogging, playing sports, etc. It is not like you actually have to be "exercising" as you may think. One can simply go about their normal daily routine and be rewarded for the activity they are involved in.


And if you want to pick up the pace, you can make it exciting by competing against your friends within the app… Working competition and pushing towards a healthier future.


The app measures your activity by measuring your steps taken, just as a pedometer does. For each step taken that is verified to be legitimate you are rewarded with a certain amount of Sweatcoins, which is the digital currency that keeps this app going, which is something that they made up and it does have value because you can use these Sweatcoins to get rewards of real value.


The reason this app is becoming so darn popular so darn fast is because of the obvious, people can make money without doing anything extra in their lives… Simply by downloading an app. You will going to do the walking around that you normally do regardless, so why not get paid for it?

But how does this actually work? It is one heck of a strange concept to even imagine that they can pay you for being active. Don't worry… I will go over how it all works next because I know everyone is probably wondering this and thinking that this has got to be a scam.

How Can They Possibly Pay You For Being Active?

The big question, how can they possibly pay people for exercising or being active? This is a question I knew I had to look into because after coming across this app it made no sense to me either. However, they are actually paying people and that money has to be coming from somewhere, but where?


Well... For starters, according to this article, the app has received over $6 million in funding which helps to increase the value of Sweatcoin. Investors see the value in the app and things could get better for the app and people using it.


The reason this app has value is because it provides a platform for manufacturers in the health niche to promote their products on, and I guess not just in the health niche because you also see a lot of other products being promoted here that really have nothing to do with health.


When I talk about the products being promoted, I am talking about the different products that you can spend the Sweatcoins you earned to get, which have real value. But I will get more into all of this later on in the review.


How it works is like this, companies are willing to give away gadgets, free trial services, and all sorts of discount items if it means they are possibly going to get good exposure and it will lead to more sales down the road. It is all about promotion and advertising. Competition among companies promoting their products on the Sweatcoin platform create some healthy competition that leads to better available rewards.


To be honest, it is still a bit confusing to me, but I do see that this app as real value and is able to make money, which it uses a portion of to reward its users for being active.

Tracking Steps

So basically the app works just like a pedometer… It tracks your steps and you get rewarded based on the number of steps that you take. If your device has a built-in pedometer than it will use that, but if not it will use Google Fit, which is what most people's devices are probably going to be using.


After every 2000 steps, the app will send the data into be verified, although you can force send the steps to be verified sooner. There is an anti-cheat algorithm in place to make sure that your steps are legitimate (there are some problems with this that I will talk about in the complaints section) and for every 1000 verified Sweatcoin steps you are given once Sweatcoin, minus a 5% commission.


Most people using this app are probably going to be free members, which will place a daily cap of 5 Sweatcoins that they can earn, which may not sound like much but it is plenty.

Using The App

Using the app really couldn't be any easier, or at least I don't see how it could be. After installing the app and getting things set up, which doesn't take long at all, it will simply run in the background and there is really nothing you have to do.


When you open up the app you will see a very simple layout as is shown in the screenshot below. It will show you the total steps taken for the day and the total Sweatcoins earned, which are the result of your "Sweatcoin verified" steps, which are the steps that have been verified to be legitimate by the anti-cheat algorithm.

Really you don't have to do anything at all, besides of course taking steps as you normally would on a daily basis. The app runs silent in the background and the steps you take are automatically sent to be verified every so often, so really all you have to do is keep doing what you are doing and maybe monitor it every once in a while to make sure things are running smoothly.

How Much Money Can You Realistically Make?

While a lot of people are promoting this app as some amazing way to make cash on the side, I'm going to give you the cold hard reality here and tell you that you will not realistically make much of any money with this. The people that you see acting like this is some newfound path to financial freedom are just promoting it to make some extra money, or at least that is how it usually seems to be.


The fact of the matter is that you will not make much… Even if you do a heck of a lot of walking on a daily basis. You see, there is a difference between the total number of steps taken and "Sweatcoin verified" steps. One of the big complaints about this app is that the step tracker is not all that great and I have never seen anyone who even comes close to being rewarded for all of their steps taken.


Not only does the step tracker not work all that great, but Sweatcoin is a real stickler when it comes to verifying the legitimate steps. Their anti-cheat algorithm really doesn't seem to be all that great and often times seems to cheat the people who really are taking legitimate steps instead of stopping those who aren't.


That said, they do help people out a bit by giving things like the Daily Bonuses, which are bonuses that you can earn 1 Sweatcoin from simply by clicking a button to claim the bonus. You will then be directed to watch an ad or something along these lines in order to get your bonus.


However, you have to be quick at this because if you wait too long you will get the message of "Sorry, all of my Daily Bonuses are attending other users. Please come back later!" This bonus is reset 5 hours after you claim it so if you do get this message you shouldn't have to wait long.

The Referral Program

Just like pretty much any app out there, there is a referral program where you can get rewarded for referring other people to use the app.


You get paid 5 Sweatcoins for every successful referral you bring in. That said, it's not like you can just start referring in a bunch of dummy accounts and get credit for them. The referrals you bring in will be verified to be real and legitimate so you can't really cheat the system here.


If you want to help me and my site out so I can keep writing honest reviews like this, you can join with my referral link here. This will not cost you anything but will help me out.

Rewards

As I talked about earlier, companies promote their products/services here and this is partly how the Sweatcoin app makes money to be able to pay you.


You can find all sorts of various rewards here, including things like workout gear, trial services, PayPal cash, gadgets, etc.


Some of the current rewards that are available to me right now include the following…


  • 4 months of free Tidal music - 4.99
  • iPhone XS - 20k
  • $1,000 in cash - 20k
  • $50 Nike gift card - 3,650
  • $50 Starbucks gift card - 3,648
  • Fabric Smart Speaker - 2,499.99

But the available rewards change and I think they even vary depending on your location. Right now there really aren't all that many rewards available, but in the future I think there will be a lot more companies promoting through this app. And besides, as long as there is some form of cash available, whether it be via PayPal or direct deposit into your bank account, that is good enough for me.


And yes, some of these rewards are extremely expensive and may seem far out of reach. However, for some rewards you can actually pull your money together with friends to get rewards you wouldn't be able to afford on your own.

Complaints

Now on to the section you have all been waiting for, the complaints. You might want to grab a snack and to sit back for this, because there are a fair number of complaints that I will be going over, all of which I think are worth mentioning.

Takes Forever to Earn Enough

As you already know, it takes a while to earn Sweatcoins. I mentioned that most people don't even come close to getting credit for all of the steps they actually take, and many of the rewards are very expensive which means it will take forever to earn enough.


This is a complaint, but then again… This app is free to use and you are getting paid to do something that is healthy and that you will be doing regardless.

You Have to Pay Shipping

Of course this depends on what reward you are going for, but yes many of them you will have to pay shipping on. It is not like Amazon prime where you can get free 2 day shipping. But this makes sense… Making the customer pay for shipping is probably how it should be. We are just getting to used to awesome services like Amazon.

App Takes Too Much Commission

The app does take 5% commissions out of the Sweatcoins that you earn. Some people will complain about this, but I don't really see 5% being all that much. Anyways, it is what it is.

Step Count Is Off 

This is either the number one complaint out there, or it is in a tie with the next complaint I will go over.


The step count is off! How annoying is that? You take a certain number of steps in the app claims that you have taken less steps than you actually have. There have been plenty of people who have actually counted their steps or have used good quality pedometers to notice this difference.


It appears that if you are walking slowly the app might not give you credit for the steps.

The "Anti-Cheat" Algorithm

And after having less recorded steps then you actually talk, your steps still need to pass through the "anti-cheat" algorithm in order to become verified. This will whack off another portion of the steps you talk… Because they won't be considered "Sweatcoin verified steps".


There are a a lot of people complaining about this "anti-cheat" algorithm, claiming that it is just cheating the people who are actually taking legitimate steps and not trying to cheat the system.


I have read reviews from people claiming they have taken as much as 6000 steps, yet having gotten verified for 1000 of them. Now of course I have no way of verifying these claims and it could be completely understandable that these people are getting credit, but I think is worth mentioning.

Only Works Outside

The app clearly states that it only converts GPS-verified outdoor steps, not indoor steps. It tells you this after you install the app and open it for the first time. I am not sure the reason behind this, but it is definitely a downside.


That said, I see a lot of complaints from people who are mad about how they walk around all day at the office and don't get credit, or work at at some restaurant where they walk in insane amount each night but don't get credit. Well of course you are going to get credit… This walking is all done inside and it clearly states that you will not be getting credit for indoor steps.

It Takes a Toll On Your Battery

As you can imagine this app takes a toll on your device's battery, as any app will when it is running. Now it doesn't drain your battery like crazy and I guess I would consider it inefficient app, but it does take a noticeable toll on the battery and this can be a bit annoying.

Pros v Cons

Pros

  • Free to use
  • You get paid doing what you are going to do regardless
    • When you can get paid to do something you are going to do regardless, it doesn't get any more awesome
  • Works automatically
    • As I mentioned, this app runs in the background and is super easy to use
  • Gives you incentive to stay healthy
    • Now you can earn a little bit of extra money by taking more steps in staying more healthy, a win/win
  • You can earn free money
    • Remember, this app is free to use and you don't have to do anything extra… It is basically a way to earn free money
  • Can be fun
    • This can be fun, especially if you have some competition among friends


Cons

  • Can be frustrating when it doesn't give you credit for steps
    • Not getting credit for the steps you take can be extremely frustrating. I'm sure you can imagine
  • You don't earn much
    • You will not earn much and many of the reviews out there are misleading, misrepresenting the earning potential that is actually here
  • Not enough variety of rewards
    • I would like to see more variety when it comes to the rewards offered, but I think there will be improvement on this in the future and at least there is a way to get good old cash for your Sweatcoins
  • Drains phone battery

Scam or Not?

Most of the people calling the Sweatcoin app a scam are those who have not gotten credit for the amount of steps they have taken and are frustrated. Many of these people probably have gotten screwed over by the "anti-cheat" algorithm and many others probably just aren't using the app correctly, but whatever the case they feel cheated.


I understand that there is definitely a lot of room for improvement with this app, but in no way do I see it being a scam. There are people who are using this and are getting paid… Simple as that. It would be hard imagining that a scam could possibly raise over $6 million and have legitimate and trustworthy companies providing their products on it... Definitely not a scam.

Conclusion: Is This App Worth Your Time?

But just because it is in a scam doesn't necessarily mean that it is worth your time. Some people are going to benefit much more from this app than others. It is obvious that a teacher walking around in school hallways all day is going to benefit far less than a landscaper who is constantly walking around outdoors. But again, you could look at it in the way that both people are getting paid for doing what they are going to do regardless. Even the schoolteacher is going to walk outside at some point, or at least I would think so.


I personally think this app is pretty darn cool and it is something that I recommend. I would at least recommend giving it a try and seeing how much you can earn. You never really know until you try and since it is free, you have nothing to lose. 


Download the Sweatcoin App here to get started!

​

Please leave any comments or questions you may have below. I will get back to you as soon as humanly possible 🙂


Is getting paid to be active not for you? Then check out the Ibotta app. It is a cash back app that pays you to shop, which you are going to do regardless. I know... it's a lot different from Sweatcoin but I think it is something you might like.

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Is Cash App a Scam
Uncategorized

Is Cash App a Scam? – Know This Before Downloading

Is Cash App a scam?

You probably were told to download this app by a friend, maybe you heard about in the media, or maybe it was just something you came across by accident. And now you're wondering whether or not it can be trusted.

I don't blame you, it is difficult to know what you can and cannot trust in the online world… Especially when it comes to entrusting an app like this with your hard-earned money.

In this review of Cash App I'll be going over all you need to know about it, including what exactly it is and what it does, showing you how to use the app, talking about bitcoin in the debit card you can get, cashing out, complaints and more.

Cash App Review

App Name: Cash, aka "Cash App"

Type: Online payment app

Creator: Square Inc

Cost: Free

Availability: iOS and Android devices

Scam?: No

Cash App
Get $5 Bonus When You Download The App
Quick Navigation
What Is Cash App?
The Company Behind The App:
How Does The Cash App Make Money?
Using The App
The Cash App Debit Card
Cash App Bitcoin
Cash App Cash Out
Referral Program: $5 for Free
How to Use a Get $5 When Joining
Complaints
'Oh No... I Got Scammed!'
Is Cash App a Scam?
Should You Use Cash App?

What Is Cash App?

Okay... So first off, what is the Cash App?


In a nutshell is basically a peer to peer digital payment app that is similar to PayPal, except I would say it is a bit more user-friendly and focused more on the peer to peer payment aspect.


This app is often used for simple payments between people who know each other. For example, you can easily Cash App your friend some money for that movie they paid for, or maybe for that big Mac at McDonald's in which you didn't have your wallet, or vice versa.


The app is incredibly easy to use, as a simple layout that is easy to navigate, and overall is a very easy way to send and receive money.


When you open up an account with the app you get your own "virtual wallet" and along with this you will get your own virtual routing and account number to get direct deposits. Additionally, you also can get a debit card that is linked to your account which has its benefits, buy/sell bitcoin and more. 


Oh yeah… And they don't charge any fees, which I know can be hard to believe.


The Company Behind The App:

The company that created this app is Square Inc. (website squareup.com) You may have not heard of them before but you probably have seen their products, maybe without knowing it. You've probably seen small business owners using remote payment processors, sometimes hooked up to their tablets or smart phones. Square Inc makes these things.


Their creation of Cash App is another way to help out small businesses. That said, it seems that most people using this app or people who know each other and send money back and forth.


How Does The Cash App Make Money?

The big question… How does this app make any money? I want to touch on this because I know that a lot of people are going to be wondering how this works. After all, it has to be making money, right?


Well… Square does charge a 1.5% processing fee on their Cash for Small Businesses feature. But of course many people using this app or even using this feature and will never have any fees on their transactions.


So again, how is it making money? This question is a curiosity for many people and there is a lot of talk about how Square will monetize this app in the future, such as this article in The Motley Fool. It seems that there will be more monetization coming down the pipe work that isn't a reality yet.


But anyways… The fact of the matter is that Cash App is 100% fee-less for the majority of people using it.

Using The App

Cash App is free to download. After installing it you will be prompted to enter your phone number or email address, which will be connected to your account. You will then be sent a verification code to enter in order to confirm the account.


After that you will be able to "add a bank" by linking your debit card number to your account, but you can skip this for later if you wish.


The last part of the initial account creation process is to create a "$Cashtag", which is a nickname used when people pay you.


Upon opening the app for the first time you will see the screen shown below…

In the upper portion of the screen you will see a little account icon on the left, "cash & BTC" in the middle, and a clock icon on the right.


If you click on the account icon on the left you will be taken to an overview of your account. Here you can check on your funds, your bank account info, debit card info, change settings, contact support and more. This is like the control panel of your account.


If you click on "cash & BTC" you will be taken to where you can deposit money/cash out as well as buy/sell bitcoin.

At the bottom of the screen you will see two buttons: Request and Pay.


Paying people and requesting money is a very straightforward process. What you would do is enter the amount you want to request/pay on that very screen, click on the button that you want to do, and then choose who you want to request money from or send money to…

When paying or requesting money you can choose a sender or receiver by entering their name, $Cashtag, SMS, or email...

The Cash App Debit Card

The fact that you can get a debit card linked to your Cash App account it's pretty cool, so want to talk a bit more on this.


With your debit card (aka cash card) you will be able to get instant discounts, use it to withdraw money at any ATM, and even get direct deposits. It works just like any other debit card and Visa is the brand behind it, so you know it can be trusted.

When I say you can get "instant discounts" with this card I'll explain what I'm talking about: we can do is add a "boost" to your card, which is a special discount offer when you use it somewhere.


For example, I just set up a new account as I am writing this and I have the following available "boosts" that I add to my card…


  • 10% off at Wendy's
  • $1 off at coffee shops
  • 10% off at Chipotle
  • 10% off at Whole Foods
  • 10% off at Panda Express
  • 10% off at Chick-fil-A
  • 10% off at Dairy Queen
  • 10% off at Shake Shack
  • 10% off at Domino's

And these discounts are for every visit you make. So if you would choose a 10% off discount at Wendy's, you would get 10% off every time you use that card there. It is not like a "one and done" type of deal.

Cash App Bitcoin

One of the more new features that has been added to the app is the ability to buy or sell bitcoin. Now this definitely isn't for everyone, and you should be well aware of the risks involved if you do choose to participate in this, but nonetheless it is a very nice feature that many people will appreciate.


When you go to buy/sell bitcoin you will first see a very basic price chart to give you an idea of what the price of bitcoin is looking like, and then you will be able to choose to buy or sell.


When buying bitcoin it will use the money in your account, which it will bring and automatically from your linked debit card if you don't have enough available. Then it will make the purchase of bitcoin automatically.


Square has what they call "subzero" bitcoin cold storage to keep your funds are safe. Basically what this means is that they store your bitcoin off-line so that it is "un hackable" and much safer. This is a precaution that any reputable cryptocurrency exchange takes these days.


If you want to withdraw your bitcoin or sell it, you will need to provide additional verification such as your full name, Social Security number, date of birth, driver's license, and a photo of yourself. This is pretty much standard procedure.


And the last thing that I want to mention about the bitcoin exchange feature that this app offers is the price at which you are able to buy/sell bitcoin app. It is not a big deal, but it does seem that the prices they offer are a bit higher than other exchanges.


For example, below that you can see that when I went to buy one dollar of bitcoin on the app the exchange rate was $6,441.22, yet at the same time I could have purchased bitcoin on Coinbase Pro (more professional version of Coinbase) for $6,358.80. It is not much of a difference, but I think it is worth mentioning.

They say that there is no fee when it comes to buying/selling bitcoin, but it seems that the fee may be somewhat incorporated into the price. But I really wasn't able to find out all that much information on this and this is just a guess.

Cash App Cash Out

So let's say you have a bunch of money in your account and want to cash it out. Maybe someone just sent you money for one reason or another, maybe you just don't feel like having so much money in your account anymore, whatever the case.


Luckily, this process is very simple. All you have to do is click on the "cash out" button, choose whether you want it transferred at a standard rate or instant rate, and enter your pin or touch ID to confirm the transaction.


If you choose an instant cash out you will be charged a 1.5% fee and if you choose standard there will be no fee. However, with standard it might take a few days to show up in your bank account.

Referral Program: $5 for Free

One of the cool things about this app is that they have a referral program in place where you can get $5 when you download and use the app as well as when you refer others to do so. You and your friends can get $5, for free, in your account at no extra cost to anyone.


So let's say that you download the app right now and enter my referral code… You and I are both eligible to earn five dollars for free. 


Here is how it works...


How to Use a Get $5 When Joining


Step 1) After you have downloaded the app you can click on the account icon in the top left of the screen

Step 2) Scroll down to the bottom and click on "Enter Referral Code"

Step 3) Enter this referral code to get the $5 bonus


Step 4) Link a debit card and send $5 using Cash App within the next 14 days. This can be done in one or multiple payments, as long as $5 is sent


Step 5) Enjoy the free $5 you just got!


Simple as that… All you have to do is join, enter the referral code, link a debit card, send at least five dollars over the app that it's that… You get $5 for free.

Complaints

There is not an app out there that you will find which doesn't have any complaints. No matter how good something is, there are always going to be some problems in some people complaining. That said, Cash App has some incredibly good ratings and on it Google Play it has a 4.0/5 star rating with over 50,000 reviews.


But… As I said there are complaints and the following are some of the more common ones I have come across that you should be aware of…

Support 

When it comes to the support offered you are bound to be disappointed. They have no customer service phone number and emailing them can be a real pain, getting automated generic emails all too often.


Most of the complaints I have come across actually seem to stem from the fact that they do not offer phone support. Many people are complaining about not getting their cash fast enough and things like this. They unfortunately had to resort to writing a complaint because they were not able to get a hold of support fast enough.

Missing Cash Outs

I have read through several complaints from people claiming that they went to cash out, the money left their Cash App account, but it never ended up in their bank account. Many of the people complaining just haven't waited long enough for the money to come through, but some people claim to have started the process weeks or even over a month ago and still don't have their money.


I was reading complaints about this on Google Play and it seems that the support team is very quick to get in contact with these people and help them out. However, I have no idea if these people's problems were resolved… I have no idea if they were actually able to recover their funds. That said, I'm guessing that they were able to because, if not, I would expect to see some follow-up complaints from these people, which I don't see.


While this is obviously a very serious complaint, it very seldom occurs and when it dies, it seems to be fixed.

Being Scammed

And then of course there are complaints from people who have been scams. I'm talking about people who have sent money to the wrong person, or maybe to someone who turned out to be different than they thought. This is NOT Cash App's fault if this happens. However, if this has happened to you there is a way to get your money back, or at least potentially get your money back.


*Note: Complaints about glitches or technical problems with the app or pretty much nonexistent. This is very impressive to see. I have not read about anyone not being able to open the app or anything of this nature. This is not an app that you are going to have to worry about getting "stuck" during the middle of sending a payment.

'Oh No... I Got Scammed!'

So you got scammed, you lost money and now you are looking for a way to get back. What do you do?


Well… This depends on where the money you sent came from. They come from your Cash App account or did it come from a debit card that was links to your account? The procedure for getting your money back is different depending on the source.


From Your Account: If the money sent came from your Cash App account then you are going to have to deal with the Cash App support. I suggest getting in contact with them here: http://squ.re/cashhelp. It might be too late, but if they are able to retrieve the money from the receivers account, you want to get in contact with them as soon as possible.


From a Linked Debit Card: If the money you sent came from a debit card that was links into your account, you're going to have to get in contact with your bank. Again, there is no guarantee that you will be able to retrieve your funds in the process may be different depending on what bank you have.

Is Cash App a Scam?

Cash App is definitely not a scam. This app was created by a legitimate company and there's no way they would jeopardize their reputation by putting out some cash grabbing scam app. I understand that some people feel scammed, but most of the stories I have read from people who claim to have been scammed are either ridiculous, don't make much sense, or have no proof to back them up.


Why people claim it is a scam…


There are various reasons, some of which that I came across include that: the app are charged a transaction fee (happens when you make instant cash outs), that the support sucks and there is no phone number to call for immediate help (understandable), that someone accidentally sent money to the wrong person and can't get it back, that money which was cashed out is missing, and so on.


Some of these claims that the app is a scam are legitimate and understandable, but many are not. The ones that are include things such as missing cash after having cashed out. However, as I mentioned earlier, it seems that these people problems have been resolved and they have been reunited with their cash… many of these people just complaining prematurely and I have no idea what happened to some other people's cash with this sort of problem.

Should You Use Cash App?

Are you looking for a super easy way to send and receive money… Make peer-to-peer transactions between friends and other people? Are you looking for an easy to use app that you can do this with on your phone… An app that is trusted (despite the complaints) in that you don't have to worry about stealing your money?


If you answer yes to any of these questions then Cash App might be a good choice for you. The app works great and it does exactly what it is intended to do.


After downloading the app you can use my referral code QHMDNJK to get your $5 bonus, which will also help support my blog here so that I can keep writing good reviews like this. 

If you have any comments or questions please leave them below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can 🙂

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MAGA Checks scam
Investing

“MAGA Checks” Scam Exposed – What Is Really Going On Here?

Can you really start collecting “MAGA Checks” on a regular basis for thousands of dollars, or even tens of thousands of dollars? Is it really that simple? Did Donald Trump really passed some new law to allow you to start collecting these checks, regardless of your age, political affiliation, etc.? Or is this all a bunch of bunk… Is it possible that MAGA Checks are a scam?

As you are probably somewhat aware, or at least I assume you are, these MAGA Checks are not what they seem to be… Or at least not what you are led to believe they are. I’m guessing that you probably heard or saw an advertisement for these checks and thought it sounded a little bit too good to be true, which lead to you doing some research on your own and eventually you came across my review here.

In this review I will be exposing this scam for what it really is. While I guess some may argue with me on whether it is a scam or not, there is no doubt that the opportunity is incredibly misleading and that many people feel scammed who get sucked into it.

The Sales Pitch

The sales pitch is put on by a guy named Dr. Steve Sjuggerud. He talks all about how you can start collecting these “big cash payments” from the MAGA Checks that Trump has something to do with.

Right off the bat you are probably thinking that these are some sort of government approved checks and are something like Social Security, but then he tells you that this has absolutely nothing to do with the government and Social Security.

Throughout the pitch there are a bunch of statement shown about people who are supposedly collecting tons of money on a regular basis with these checks. However, there is absolutely no proof that any of this is true or that you these people even exist for that matter.

Is “Jim G” really on pace to collect $5295? Is “Neil W” really going to collect $24,000 this year at the age of 79 from these checks?…

I would say that nearly half of the sales pitch is just a bunch of talk about people collecting all this money from these checks but there is no proof offered at any point that these claims are real.

But anyways, what the heck are these checks that he is talking about anyhow? They sound pretty darn amazing but throughout the sales pitch he only gives you small hints at what they are and never actually provides any good details. This is all the work of a salesman… He keeps you wanting more and of course you have to take action and subscribe to the newsletter, that I’ll talk about in a bit, in order to find out what you are really getting into.

What Are MAGA Checks Really? Do They Even Exist?

So what the heck are MAGA Checks?

Well, I can tell you one thing… These checks do not exist in the sense that you are led to believe. There aren’t any checks that are actually called “MAGA Checks”. This is just a stupid name that Dr Steve Stuggerud my stuff came up with.

There are some hints at what these checks actually are throughout the sales page, such as how you will need money to invest and how companies are distributing these checks, but there is no clear picture given. You are also told that it is all about real estate and have something to do with companies renting other companies large amounts of land.

What it all comes down to is some law that “helps revitalize an obscure government real estate program from the 1960’s” which Trump has something to do with.

What Are They Really?

But anyways, was get to the point here… These checks are really just dividend payments that anyone can get after investing in certain companies, and in this Casey is specifically talking about real estate companies that rent mass amounts of land to other large companies.

He claims to have selected 225 “Trump approved institutions” that he wants to share with you. Apparently these companies pay out “3 times more than other MAGA check companies”.

What’s The Point of This Ridiculousness?

So you may be wondering, what is the point of all of this? If this guy is willing to go to quite ridiculous lengths to put together this incredibly misleading sales pitch, there has to be a reason for. In the reason probably has to do something with money, right?

Well… You would be right to assume this. The point of this entire deceptive sales pitch is to lure people into subscribing to a newsletter called “True Wealth“, which is similar to other investment newsletters I have reviewed in the past like True Momentum and  Real Wealth Strategist. This is a newsletter edited by Steve Staggerud in which he basically makes recommendations for assets that he thinks have profit potential.

The cost of a subscription is $49 for one year, but of course it was normally priced at $199 and you are getting some type of a “special discount”..

The Shady Company Behind This

The company behind this all is Stansberry Research, which I also have reviewed in the past. Misleading promotions and advertisements for their latest newsletters like this is nothing new… It is something this place is very good at and often participates in. In fact, in the past their founder, Mr. Porter Stansberry himself, was forced by the SEC to pay back 1.5 million to subscribers after they determined that he had defrauded them by making misleading statements that he knew were false in order to lure in new customers. You can read more about this in this US News article.

If you do a little bit of research on this company you will find plenty of negative reviews. On the BBB’s website they have an overall rating of 1 out of 5 stars, which is pretty darn horrible if you ask me. Most of the complaints made seem to be from people who have made a one time purchase, or thought it was supposed to be a one time purchase, of a $49 investment book (also in $19 investment book) and then were charged for additional subscriptions without them knowing. Pretty much all the reviews are about this sort of thing.

Conclusion = Avoid

Okay… So there isn’t anything actually called “MAGA Checks”. The opportunity is way overhyped and made to seem like some fairytale investment opportunity. The company behind it all is incredibly shady and has had run-ins with the law in the past.

What else?

Oh yeah, how about the fact that he completely leaves out and forgets to mention how you will have to have a significant amount of money to invest in order to make profits like those mentioned in the sales pitch. Remember, these checks are really just the dividend payments and if you want to collect thousands of dollars regularly then having just a couple thousand to invest isn’t going to cut it.

It may seem that this guy is doing some great American deed by helping out “hard-working Americans”, but in reality he is doing the opposite. He is preying on people that are desperate to secure a good retirement, mainly targeting the older conservative Republican population.

Subscribe to this newsletter if you want to, I mean there are some people that have left good reviews about it, but I am certainly not going to recommend getting involved. This is just not the type of business I think is worth getting involved with in there are for more negative complaints out there than positive ones.

But anyways, I hope you enjoyed this review and found it helpful. Please leave any questions or comments down below and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can 🙂

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GetUpside Review
Apps That Pay You, Cashback Programs

GetUpside Review – Scam App or Easy Money? [Read Before Downloading]

We have all heard of cash back programs where you can earn cash back for your normal purchases, such as shopping in stores and eating out at restaurants, but what about buying gas? Well… With the GetUpside app you can actually earn cash back when buying gas, which is almost unheard of.

Sounds pretty awesome doesn't it?… Being able to get gas at a lower price than is advertised that the pump.

But is this app really that great? What are the downsides? Is it possible that it is just one big scam in one way or another, or that is going to be a waste of your time? In this GetUpside review I'll be going over all you need to know beforehand. 

Overall I like what this app is doing and it is something that I recommend if you have a car and pay for gas regularly, and live in the right area, but there are a few downsides I'll be going over that you should know about as well.

GetUpside App Review

Name: GetUpside

Availability: iOS and Android devices

Type: Cash back on gas & more

Recommended?: Yes, but there are some downsides

GetUpside
Click Here to Get Download Link Sent to Your Phone

After downloading the app you can enter my promo code - KYLE6775 - to get an extra $0.15 per gallon off on your first use.

Quick Navigation
What Is GetUpside?
Overview of How It Works
Location Restriction: You Must Live Here to Use This App!
Cash Back On Gas
Cash Back on Groceries, Restaurants, and more..
Referral Program
How You Get Paid
The Downsides
Complaints About GetUpside
Scam or Not?
Is This App Worth Your Time?

What Is GetUpside?

GetUpside is an app that is available for iOS devices as well as android devices that you can use to get cash back when filling your car up with gas. For example, you can potentially go to your local BP gas station and pay 9 cents less per gallon than it is advertised. And since many of us have our own vehicles and pay for gas regularly, this can be a huge deal in a really nice/easy way to save/make a little bit of extra money.


Additionally, with this app you can also earn cash back doing things like shopping at grocery stores, eating out at restaurants, and even on car-washes, all of which I will be going over in much more detail.


How Is It Possible To Save Money Like This?


But how is this possible? You may be wondering how they can possibly give you cash back for gas like this? 


Well... It works in the same way that many other cashback programs out there work, like BeFrugal, DOSH, and Ibotta for example: GetUpside partners with gas stations all over it and helps to advertise their gas prices through the app. This in turn helps drive more traffic to these gas stations and brings them more customers. The gas stations then pay GetUpside a percentage of the payment made for gas by customers for help bringing them these customers in the first place.


It is a win/win for everyone. The gas stations get more customers and make more money, GetUpside get paid for helping drive these customers to the gas stations through their app, and we (the customers and users of the app) get cash back on gas, which we are going to buy regardless. 

Overview of How It Works

I'll be going over everything in much more detail, but first I want to do a brief overview of how it all works… How you will be able to get cash back you go to the gas station and fill up your car.

Step 1: Download the Free App

The first step, of course, is to download the app which is free to do at getupside.com. You can do this by going to the App Store if you have an iOS device, or the Google Play store if you have an android device.


After downloading the app and installing it, you will be able to enter a referral code. If you use my code, which is KYLE6775, you will be able to get a bonus $0.15 off your first use… Meaning you get an additional $0.15 off per gallon on top of the discount that is already in place.

Step 2: Find Offers in Your Area

Once inside the app you will be able to find offers (cash back offers) in your area. The app will automatically detect your location and will display all the offers nearby.

Step 3: Claim Offers

When you find an offer that you like claim it. You will have to claim your offer before actually purchasing the gas or whatever it is that the offer has to do with.

Step 4: Verify Purchase

Next up you will have to verify your purchase. This is done by uploading a receipt, which is a very simple and straightforward process.

Step 5: Get Cash Back!

Once your purchase is verified your account will be credited with cash back. You will then be able to withdraw your cash back by a variety of different methods that I will go over shortly.

Location Restriction: You Must Live Here to Use This App!

One of the big downsides that this app has is that it is only available in certain areas of the USA, which include states on the East Coast. Well I guess ancient say that the app is only available in these areas, but there are only offers available in these areas… Meaning that GetUpside is only partnered with gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants, etc. in these areas.


Currently, the following states are listed on their website as having a good amount of offers available…


  • Delaware
  • Florida
  • Maryland
  • North Carolina
  • New York
  • South Carolina
  • Virginia

That said, there are offers in other states as well. For example, I live in Pennsylvania and there is a Sunoco gas station nearby that I can use to get cash back with this app. Also, I was browsing the map and found that there are also offers in states like Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky and more.


So just because your state isn't listed above doesn't mean that there aren't any offers in your area and that you can't earn cash back on gas… It is just that the states listed above are the "main" states were offers exist. The states are full of cash back offers.


Don't Live In Any of These Areas? Then check out the Ibotta app which you can earn cash back with nationwide.

Cash Back On Gas

Since cash back on gas is the "claim to fame" over this app, let's go into more detail on this.


When you first open up the app be able to choose what type of gas you normally buy, meaning the grade of the gas. You can choose from the following:

  • Regular - 87
  • Mid-grade - 89
  • Premium - 91-93
  • Diesel
  • Other - (E85, Super Premium, etc)

After selecting the grade of gas you are interested in the app will then do its thing and find all of the available offers nearby.


As you can see below, the only offer available to me is cash back of $0.09 per gallon at Sunoco, but this is because I live in Pennsylvania as I mentioned above.

But anyways, when you click on an offer to claim it, it will then provide more details about the offer and will provide you with a map and directions via Google maps.

And just to give you an idea of how good this app is in certain areas, take a look at the screenshot displayed below. I was browsing the map and this is just a section of Florida that is filled with different cashback offers. If you live here there are plenty to choose from and that the more I zoom in on the map, the more pop up.

This is just an example I wanted to give to show you the potential of this app. Where I live it isn't very good, but for some people it could be well worth the download.


The Process of Getting Cash Back on Gas

So after you claim an offer you will have four hours to make your purchase and then you can upload your receipt. Why is there a time limit? I don't really know… That's just how it is.


When you go to upload your receipt it is very simple. The app uses the camera on your phone and you will be able to easily snap a picture to verify the purchase.

Cash Back on Groceries, Restaurants, and more..

As I mentioned, getting cash back on gas is by far the main part of this app, but you can also earn cash back on groceries, restaurants, and more. However, getting cash back for groceries and at restaurants is only available for people in the DC area.


The way you can earn shopping for groceries and eating out at restaurants is the same as with buying gas. You will be able to see the offers available in your area and you will then be able to claim them, upload a receipt after purchase, and get your cash back.


Luckily when it comes to getting cash back on groceries you are not required to make your purchase within four hours. This would be rather difficult for some people and would require you to be in a frenzy within the grocery store.


It is also advertise that you can save up to 20% cashback at convenience stores and up to 60% cashback on car washes, although I have yet to actually see these offers myself.

Referral Program

This app, like most apps, has a referral program that you can make money with by referring your friends to download and use the app.


When you refer a friend in they make their first purchase they will get an extra $0.15 off per gallon and you will make $0.15 per gallon that they buy. However, after that initial purchase you will only make one cent for every gallon that they purchase. So it is nice to have a referral program, but this is probably not something many people make much of any money with.

How You Get Paid

And now on to what we all need to know… How you actually get paid. It can be exciting to see money coming into your account within the app, but this money doesn't really mean anything until it is in your bank account or able to be used in some other way.


Luckily, there are a good amount of withdrawal options available. You can choose to cash out your money via PayPal, choose to get a check, or even choose to have an e-gift card emailed to you.


One thing that is very nice, which I think is worth mentioning, is that there is not a minimum withdrawal threshold, meaning that you can withdraw your money even when you only have a couple dollars. However… If you do withdraw less than $15 to PayPal or choose to have a check sent to you of less than $50, there is a one dollar fee applied. This fee can be waived if you cash out above the said amounts, or it can be waived in cashing out via PayPal if you refer at least one friend to use the app.


When it comes to e-gift cards there really aren't all that many choices. However, they do have Amazon e-gift cards available which is nice to see, because you can buy pretty much anything with one of them.

The Downsides

As I said in the beginning, overall I really like this app and what it offers, but there are definitely some downsides to it. Some of which worth mentioning include:

Location Restriction

The fact that this app is only available in a small number of states is a real disappointment. I am sure it will continue to expand if it keeps doing what it's doing, but as I am writing this the majority of people in the United States are not going to be able to make any use of it.

The Fine Print

And there is also the fine print, which I have not whenever yet. The fine print mentions that you must use a credit or debit card, you must make your purchase within four hours of claiming the offer, that an offer is only valid for the first 50 gallons of gas purchased, cashback is reduced when combined with other discounts, and so on…

Now some of this is no problem. For example, I see no problem in having four hours to make a purchase. I think that is ample time to fill up with gas after claiming an offer.


However, the fact that an offer is only valid for the first 50 gallons of gas purchased is a bummer, and I am also a bit confused about this. Does this mean that after purchasing 50 gallons of gas at a particular gas station you can no longer get cash back at the gas station? Or does this just mean the offer is only valid for 50 gallons of gas for anyone purchase, meaning that you could purchase gas a couple days later at the same gas station and still receive cash back (because this would be a different purchase). If anyone knows the answer to this and could clear it up for me and my readers that would be great.

Complaints About GetUpside

When reviewing an app like this I always like to make sure to write a section about complaints, complaints that are common among other users.


Overall this app has really good reviews and a really good rating. On Google Play it has an overall rating of 4.5/5 stars, which is very good. But there are some complaints worth mentioning and these include…


App Crashes

There are a fair number of complaints I came across about the app crashing when you go to open it… Which of course makes it unusable and is a major problem. However, most people seem to have absolutely no problem like this.


I'm not what the technical problem is behind this, or if it happens on specific devices, but it is just something worth mentioning.


Gas Grade Problems

Another complaint that I came across multiple times when doing my research is that some people are getting cash back for a lesser gas grade than they actually bought. For example, people are buying premium gas which usually offers a higher cashback percentage, but instead getting credited for buying regular gas and getting a lower cashback percentage.


Now GetUpside does state that if a receipt does not specify the particular grade of gas purchased then you will be credited as having bought regular gas, but some people complaining claim that their receipts did state the particular type of gas purchased.


It appears that this could be a problem with the app reading receipts or something of this nature.


Update: It seems that this issue has been fixed.


Support Issues

As with just about every app out there nowadays, this app does not offer very good support. This is just the world we live in nowadays… Full of automated answering machines and prewritten email replies.


If you do end up having some technical problem with the app or are not rightfully credited with the cashback you deserve, it is probably going to be a bit of a pain getting things sorted. That said, it does seem that the support team is honest and what they do, it just might take them a while to get around and actually support you.

Scam or Not?

The big question… Is GetUpside a scam? 


Absolutely not. I know there are some people out there calling this app a scam, but I don't see it being a scam in any way. Sure, I bet some people have been screwed over due to some technical glitch or something along these lines, but that the stone not make a scam and you will have this sort of thing with any app out there, regardless of how good it is.

Is This App Worth Your Time?

Do you purchase gas? Do you live in one of the areas mentioned at the beginning of this review, where there are lots of offers available? Do you like to make/save money and do you think it would be nice to earn some cash back when you go to the gas station, which you are going to do regardless?

Well, if you answered yes to these questions then this app is worth your time, but of course this is just my opinion.


There are people making $15-$25 in a little over a month's time with this app, but of course this completely depends on how much gas you purchase on a regular basis and on how good of offers you have in your area. But the point is that with this app you can make a little bit of extra money doing what you already do and what you are going to continue to do even if you don't download the app.


So why not download the app? After all, it's free to do and very easy to use.


And again, if you do want to download the app you can use my promo code KYLE6775 to get an extra $0.15 off per gallon on your first purchase, which can really add up. This would also help me out so that I can keep this site running and keep writing awesome reviews.


But anyways… I hope you enjoyed this review and found it helpful. Please leave any comments or questions down below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can 🙂

Read More
Fast Fortune Club Scam
Investing

Fast Fortune Club – Scam by Tom Gentile or Easy Money? [Review]

Tom Gentile claims that his Fast Fortune Club can make you rich, very rich… all with very little work required. But is this the truth? Should you take him at his word? Or is Fast Fortune Club a scam that is just going to suck the money out of you and provide you with little to nothing in return?

This investment newsletter subscription is often promoted as a way to "set up a serious of take-it-to-the-bank payouts of $605... $822... $1,190... $2,830 every single week" and I have even seen advertisements, like the picture shown above, of "Watch America's #1 Trader Become $1,050 Richer in 15 Seconds", as well as other things like this.

It definitely seems a little bit too good to be true right off the bat, but this doesn't necessarily mean is a scam. That said, I'm guessing that you are a bit suspicious of this investment newsletter service and your suspicion is what led you to my review here, which is good.

You have to beware of the many fake reviews out there. While doing my research on Fast Fortune Club (FCC as I will call it at times) I came across a number of fake reviews that work claiming that FFC is the greatest thing ever, but basically they were just another sales pitch and you can't really trust them all too much.

But anyways, in this review I will be going over what exactly Fast Fortune Club it is, the man behind it, some concerns I have, what you actually get if you subscribe, complaints and more. If you are thinking about possibly subscribing to this place you are definitely going to want to read this over first.

Fast Fortune Club Review

Newsletter Name: Fast Fortune Club

Type: Investment 

Editor: Tom Gentile

Publisher: Map Money Press

Recommended?: No and you will see why

Fast Fortune Club
Quick Navigation
What Is Fast Fortune Club?
Who Is Tom Gentile?
Concerns
What You Get If When You Subscribe
Lorem Ipsum Dolor
Is His "Money Calendar" Really That Good?
Complaints
It's All About Results...
A Good Example of Deceptive Marketing
Conclusion - Scam or Not?

What Is Fast Fortune Club?

Fast Fortune Club is an investment newsletter created by Tom Gentile, it was said to be "America's #1 trader" although it seems that this nickname does not hold to be true.


I'm guessing that you probably came across some promotional material for this newsletter and heard all about how it supposedly allows you to collect a series of profit each week, requires no guess work and all you have to do is follow along, and of course only takes about 10 minutes of your time a day. But there's a lot more to it than that.


Basically what a subscription to this newsletter gives you is investment advice from Tom and his team. He makes predictions as to what are good investments and you are alerted on what you should do… That is basically it in a nutshell, but I will go over what you get in more detail below.


First let's talk about who this Tom Gentile is though..


Who Is Tom Gentile?

Well... He is a millionaire that has over 30 years experience in securities and it dabbles in trading stocks, futures and options. He is also the author of several different educational books such as The Options Course, the Index Course and others.


However, his real "claim to fame" dates back to 1993 when he and a group of other people started a company called Optionetics, which is an options trading education company that was sold to Charles Schwab in 2009.


But is this guy really that great? Is he really some guru that is going to help you make a ton of money like him? Critics would say otherwise… Making the point that he really hasn't done anything all that great since founding Optionetics and selling it for a ton of money, besides authoring books and selling subscription services.

Concerns

I'll get into what you get if you actually subscribe to this newsletter in a second, but first I want to go over some of the concerns that should be mentioned.


First off, the sales pitch for FFC it's pretty ridiculous and I think most people would agree with me that it is over-the-top. It sounds like a "get-rich-quick" type of deal and is somewhat deceptive. Typically don't want to fall for this type of foolery in the way in which this is marketed is definitely a concern.


It should also be noted that the company behind this newsletter, Map Money Press, doesn't exactly have the best reputation. In fact, it has a pretty darn bad reputation. This company does have an A+ rating with the BBB, but has an average of just over a 1 out of 5 star rating with over 50 customer reviews… Pretty horrible. Based on the number of complaints and bad customer reviews alone, this play should have a F rating, but the rating system that the BBB uses doesn't make all that much sense.


And if you read some of the complaints that people leave you will probably get an uneasy feeling in your stomach. There are a lot of complaints about the deceptive marketing tactics used by this place to promote their various subscription newsletters, such as talking about all the big winners and all the money that you can make, while totally leaving out the losers and money that has been lost because of bad advice.


There also a fair number of complaints about how they bombard you with emails for their many subscription services. Many people agree that they are only in it for the money and just want to suck you dry… Not really caring whether you make money or not. These sort of complaints remind me a lot of the somewhat infamous Agora Financial publication company, which also publishes financial newsletters like this.


What You Get If When You Subscribe

  • Personal Money Calendar
    • Allows you to make predictions for options trades based on the pattern recognition protocol created by Tom Gentile. Details on how to use this protocol are explained in a simple manner. 
  • Payday Appointments and Alerts
    • Going along with the predictions made in the Personal Money Calendar, these appointments and alerts tell you when to do what you need to do to make trades.
  • Million Dollar Masterclass
    • You get a masterclass available to you on a monthly basis. These masterclasses deal with some aspect of trading, whether it be some new strategy, some "secret" that he has never revealed before, or something along these lines. With these classes you get a virtual walk-through with live trading demos.
  • Quick Start Cash Course
    • This is basically a beginners course that takes you through all the different types of trading, such as trading stocks, ETF's and options. It is divided up into 7 parts and gives you all the basics, even things like setting up your trading account and such.
  • Text Message Notifications
    • These are pretty self-explanatory... you can get alerted by text message when there is something you need to know, such as an immediate stock you should sell and so on. Things like this allow you to stay "in the know" much more easily without having to hop on your computer all the time.
  • The Network
    • This is a pretty nice feature of the club because it allows you to interact with other members. You can join chat groups, share strategies, and learn a lot from these other like-minded people.
  • Progress Reports
    • Progress reports are send out on a weekly basis and give you an overview for how everything is going. You will be able to see how the recommendations are performing and how much you are profiting.
  • Podcast
    • Every Friday Tom does a podcast that outlines the upcoming week and what his plans are. This isn't all that important but if you want to stay on top of things it can be worth listening to.
  • Roundtable
    • I've reviewed a fair amount of investment subscription services over the years and I have to say that this is something no one else is really doing, and it is refreshing to see. The roundtable is a basically a live Q&A session with Tom Gentile. You can ask him questions in real time and hopefully get answers... although not guaranteed.
  • Annual Summit
    • Every year they hold a live summit where you can actually meet everyone in real life. You will be able to meet Tom and the team behind it all as well as meet up with other subscribers who make it out to the event. There are live training sessions held as well as other educational lessons. 

Is His "Money Calendar" Really That Good?

The Money Calendar, which is a system Tom uses to predict good investment opportunities, is that the main part of this subscription service. This is the meat of it… This is what is either going to make you money, or cause you to lose money.


So is it any good?


Well of course Tom lead you to believe that his investment advice is going to make you rich, superrich, but the big concern is that he is lying and you can't really trust what you hear from the promotional content.


One thing I always like to do when I'm writing reviews like this is to try to find as many independent individual reviews as possible. You know, reviews left from people who have actually been subscribed to the particular service in question and have no monetary incentive to leave a biased review.


Luckily I was able to find many such independent reviews from the investment education site Stock Gumshoe and what I found is not pretty. With a total of around 500 votes, Tom Gentile's Money Calendar service has an average rating of 2.1 out of 5...

Now I don't know about you but a 2.1 rating just isn't going to cut it for me. When it comes to trusting someone's advice with my hard-earned money, anything below a 4 rating on a 5 star scale is just too low… 2.1 being a way too low.


And as you can imagine with an incredibly low rating like this, there are plenty of complaints… Which brings me to my next section, which is probably the most interesting and telling of them all…

Complaints

There are a lot of complaints… Where to begin, where to begin?


Well, I guess I'll begin by showing this complaint, which I came across a lot of similar variations of, from someone being upset about losing most of the trades that Tom recommended…

There are a lot of complaints I read over from people claiming that he has been making a lot of losing recommendations lately. The big question is, has always been this way or is the market now just heading in a direction that is unpredictable based on his Money Calendar system?


But anyways, the bottom line is that there are a heck of a lot of people claiming that he has been recommending losing trades… Which of course he seems to do his best to cover up.


And now let's get to the more bold and ruthless complaints that really attack Tom and what he is doing, such as these ones that call him a scammer and state that the SEC should ban him from providing financial advice…


And then there is this rather detailed review left by a subscriber of Fast Fortune Club that goes over one of his losing recommendations…

And this is just a small piece of a much larger pie. There are tons of complaints about Tom and his newsletter service, but I don't want to bore you with them all.

It's All About Results...

When it comes to an investment service like this it is all about the results. We don't really care about how fancy or innovative the system is that he has come up with… We want to see results. Our his recommendations making people money? This is the big question.


Unfortunately it seems that the answer to this is that No they aren't making people money, or at least definitely not to the extent that you are led to believe. I've read comments from people claiming that out of a handful of recommendations only a few turn out to be winners.


The comment above said it best… Maybe this strategy used to work in the past, but it isn't now, yet Tom is still promoting it as this incredible newsletter service that is going to make you rich.

A Good Example of Deceptive Marketing

I think this all is a pretty good example of deceptive marketing. You are misled by these ridiculous promotions that are over-hyped, leaving out all the negative and only telling you about the best of situations.


It is a good example of the sleazy online marketing that has become all too common on the Internet.


I've reviewed quite a few investment newsletters over the years, unfortunately many of them being marketed in a similar manner, such as Real Wealth Strategist and Lifetime Income Report.

Conclusion - Scam or Not?

Based on the research that I have done it definitely appears that this investment newsletter subscription is not nearly as good as it is claimed to be. But does this equate to a being a scam? Well… You can be the judge of this.


However, it is somewhat difficult to write a review like this when I have not been a subscriber myself since there is a lack of verified results from the recommendations made by Tom Gentile.... You know since he only talks about his winning picks and seems to cover up his failures.


But anyways… This is not an investment service that I'm going to be recommending to my readers. I just don't support this kind of misleading marketing and it doesn't seem that this service is going to be making anyone rich.


I hope you enjoyed this review and found it helpful. Please leave any comments or questions down below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can 🙂


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Amazon Work at Home Scams
Work At Home Jobs

Amazon Work at Home Scams – BEWARE

If you are out on the prowl to find a job online, where you can work remotely from the comfort of your house, there is a good chance that you could run into a scam that seems to be an opportunity provided by Amazon. There are plenty of Amazon work at home scams out there and you have to be very cautious with what you get involved with.

I have been involved in online marketing since 2015 and have come across numerous different Amazon related work at home scams over the years. They come in all different shapes and sizes, some more believable and sneaky than others that may be obvious that they are scams.

But anyways… The point of this short post is to warn people that, while Amazon does have legitimate work at home opportunities, there are also many scams out there taking advantage of the popularity this e-commerce giant has as well as unsuspecting individuals who are just looking to make a buck online.

The online world can be quite a nasty place if you don’t know where to look. Because communication between individuals lacks the human touch element, people seem to be more willing to scam others relentlessly without much care to what they are really doing and to the situations the people they are scamming may be in.

What Are Amazon Work at Home Scams?

When I say “Amazon work at home scams” I’m talking about any sort of scam to make money online that is associated with Amazon. Now of course the scams aren’t actually created and promoted by Amazon themselves, but they do use the Amazon name and in one way or another make you believe that there is some incredibly easy opportunity to make money with Amazon and that with their “system” or program you are going to be able to make this a reality.

It seems that as Amazon grows in popularity, so do the scams associated with them. Right now it seems that I come across at least one new scam of this type every month, but I would say that usually multiple times per month a new one pops up.

The reason for this is simple… Amazon is now a household name. Everyone knows about Amazon, no matter whether you are old or young. And… Everyone knows that there are legitimate ways to make money from home with Amazon. So the scammers capitalize on this popularity and lure in people who are trying to get on board and grab a piece of this multibillion-dollar pie.

They Are Everywhere

When I say that scams like this are everywhere, I really mean it. And… Like I said… They come in all different shapes, sizes, forms, etc… Some being incredibly believable while others being not all that well put together and pretty obvious scams.

If you ever come across some opportunity of this kind, it is always a good idea to do your own research and to look into whether or not it is legitimate.

If there is some new opportunity that has been opened up by Amazon themselves, then you should be able to find a reputable source stating such information. If not, it is probably a scam.

Just to give you an idea of what I am talking about here, below are some examples of scams that I have exposed in the past on this very blog. They are very different, but they are both using the “Amazon” name to lure people in and then scam them out of their hard-earned money.

Example 1: “Amazon Cash Websites”

The first example I have for you is one of the largest work at home scams like this that I know of, called “Amazon Cash Websites“.

This scam is fairly well put together and I am guessing it is working pretty darn good, because it has been going on for a while now and is still up and running.

Basically what happens is this, people are lured in usually first after having received some email about a new work at home opportunity from Amazon. They are then sent to a fake news site that claims there is some incredible new opportunity Amazon is opening up in your area to work from home. A screenshot of one of these fake news stories can be seen below…

The news stories usually look pretty darn believable you and well put together… Which is the reason why this scam has been so successful.

But anyways… The fake news stories will tell you that in order to capitalize on this new work from home opportunity, you have to purchase some program that provides training and a toolkit so that you can make money with it… But it is all a scam.

You will then be directed to the actual scam from the fake news story and it usually at this time is a little more obvious that this is probably a scam. However, the news story was so darn believable that you may get sucked into it and end up losing some money.

Example 2: AZ Formula

This is a totally different type of Amazon scam. This one does not present itself as a new opportunity from Amazon themselves, but rather as some new awesome “system” that is going to allow you to make tons of money from Amazon.

Below is a screenshot I took when reviewing a scam called “AZ Formula“. As you can see I wrote “scam?” As if it might not be, but it turned out to be a sure scam…

This type of scam, many times, lures people in by telling them that they have put together some “done for you” system that is going to allow you to make tons of easy money through Amazon… And of course you have been one of the people who have been carefully selected.

Then, after you buy in, you are usually provided with some very basic training for making money on Amazon that will certainly not get you to the level of earnings that you were expecting. In other words, these are complete scams because they do provide some value, such as training and tools, but are promoted in an extremely misleading and deceptive way, which thus qualifies them as being scams in my opinion.

Yes, They Are Illegal

You might be wondering how some of the scams can get away with what they are doing. How can, Amazon Cash Websites for example, get away with it when they are using Amazon’s name and claiming that there is some new work at home program that is opening up in your area.

Isn’t this illegal?

Well… Yes it is illegal but unfortunately scams like this are always going to exist and will never be able to be completely stopped, which is why avoiding the scams comes down to you. It is up to you to make good decisions and to avoid them… You can always count on law enforcement and the protection from others to save you from such as scams.

But They Can’t Be Stopped

Well… Many of them can be stopped, but the problem is that it just takes too darn long to stop them. The scams come at a dime a dozen and it is just so much easier for scammers to create new scams than it is for them to be stopped.

Take the one scam that I mentioned above for example, the one that presented some new work at home opportunity from Amazon with a fake news website. This scam seems to have been stopped a number of different times, but the problem is new ones keep popping back up… New ones that are identical. The fake news site may get taken down but soon after it is a new one is just going to pop back up.

It is incredibly easy for the scammers behind such scams to purchase some new domain and re-create the scam all over again.

Stay Safe & Do Your Own Research

As I mentioned earlier, the only way to really stay safe is to do your own research and be smart about what you get involved with. You cannot count on other people, such as law enforcement, to protect you from things like this. I have no idea how many people actually get scammed every day online, but I can imagine the number is astronomical.

So always do your own research and if anything seems a bit off, or a little bit too good to be true, then proceed with extreme caution and keep in mind that you are looking at could very well be a scam.

Legitimate Amazon Work at Home Opportunity

Since you are reading this post about work at home scams dealing with Amazon, I’m guessing that you probably were (or are) looking for a way to make money from home with them. If so that I can help you out a bit by pointing you in the right direction.

You see, I’ve been making money online since 2015, and while my income started off very small, I have been able to turn what I do into a full-time moneymaker. I now make a living working from home and make the majority of my money from affiliate marketing, which is when you promote products online and earn commissions if you help make a sale.

Affiliate marketing is one of the legitimate ways to work at home and make money from Amazon. They have their “Amazon Associates” affiliate marketing program in which you can get paid to promote their millions upon millions of products. It is actually the best affiliate marketing program in the world due to Amazon being so popularity and having such a wide variety of products.

However, most people that get involved with affiliate marketing make a mistake… They think it is going to be simple and go off on their own to try to promote products and make money doing so. If it were simple than everyone would be doing it in making tons of money, but of course it is not.

There are a lot of different affiliate marketing training programs out there, but my recommendation would definitely be Wealthy Affiliate. Why? Well… Because this is where I got started back in 2015 and I have since been able to make a living doing this stuff, as mentioned. Wealthy Affiliate provides amazingly simple step-by-step training and the tools needed to make money doing this. Don’t leave you in the dark.

But anyways… You can read my review of Wealthy Affiliate here for more information. I’m not going to get into it all in this post.

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them down below and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can 🙂

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