By Diane Lee (WSPA)
A high-tech way to make extra cash. There are a growing number of apps that pay you for things like taking surveys or looking at adds. But what’s the trade-off?
Nowadays there are apps that will pay you to visit retailers, upload photos, even play games.
Jonathan Wessel, from Joanna, saw an ad online for an app that offered hundreds to take surveys.
“I said, heck, why not, I’ve got nothing better to do.”
He says the easy money offer was enticing, until It took him 3 hours to fill out 8 surveys, and he realized he was only getting about 3 bucks an hour.
“And you find out that there’s so many catches involved with the time and then you can only take so many a day.” said Wessel.
Cyber Security expert Doug Cone with Servosity in Greenville points to an even bigger concern.
“What I’ve seen a lot of with those type of adds is you end up getting sucked into one of those mobile phone scams where they charge you $10 bucks a month on your phone bill. I’ve seen a lot of things where people will go, oh, sign up for this. And you have to sign up for it in order to get the reward, and then once you’ve signed up you’re getting that $10 hit on your bill every month and some people just don’t notice that,” said Cone.
Cone also says some of these apps could be cashing-in on your privacy by requesting access to:
– download files without asking
– modifying or deleting what’s in your storage
– and getting access to pictures, even recording audio
Keep in mind, in the fine print of virtually any app you download is the right to change the terms and conditions at anytime, so bottom line, read the reviews to make sure it’s a trustworthy source.
Here are some paying apps that other sources recommend.