I found this over at Money Life magazine – these shysters will do anything for a buck.

An MLM company that claims to be Asia’s largest online survey company, does not even have an office address or a telephone number but is offering to ‘pay’ $10 just for filling out online surveys

Speak Asia Online, which claims to be based in Singapore, is spreading its multi-level marketing (MLM) wings in India under the pretext of online surveys. As is usual in any MLM scheme, this company also makes big claims about earnings, but fails to provide any documentary evidence for the same.

The company asks new customers or subscribers to pay $120 (standard) or $220 (premium) for becoming a panellist for one year. However, it says the fee is for its e-bulletin for one year. It clearly says: “You can remain a panellist and earn from Speak Asia only as long as your subscription to E-Bulletin is in force.” This means, before earning a single penny, you need to pay the company upfront. After the one-year period, one needs to renew the subscription. There is no mention of renewal fees.

Speak Asia Online sends its surveys mostly on Wednesday to all subscribers. Each survey takes around 40 minutes to complete. It says: “The first eight weeks are treated as a training period and the company provides you feedback on incorrectly filled surveys.” After that period, any incomplete or incorrect surveys are rejected and the company does not pay for it.

The company assures that it will make the payment in local currency through direct bank transfers. The catch here is that one has to pay bank transfer charges of 3% or minimum $7.5 per payment. In case you have earned $10 for the month, you would get payment of $2.5 only, as $7.5 from the total payment would get deducted as bank transfer charges.

There are however legitimate online surveys that you can win cash and prizes participating in…and even get paid. I’ve listed a few surveys sites below that I’ve found from legitimate and respected companies.

If you’re in the US try out: Ipsos Survey Panel or The Survey Doctor

If you’re in Canada try out: Canada Survey Panel or Ipsos Canada Survey

Does anyone know of any legitimate survey sites in other countries?