How To Know If A Micro-Task Company Is Genuine
Are you worried, concerned or confused about whether a Micro-Task company is genuine? Many people are due to the sheer amount of scams being promoted. Plus, research shows that around 8/10 companies offering the chance to work online aren’t genuine.
So before you start to work for a company online we always recommend checking if they’re legitimate before you engage with them.
There are several basic steps you can take to see if a company is genuine. Read on to find out what they are…
Always check for spelling mistakes and grammar errors
Spelling mistakes and errors in grammar are often a good indication that the company you’re looking to work with may not be genuine. These sort of errors should also appear as a red flag if the company proclaims it is a local business trading near you.
People looking to scam you will often put together websites quickly in order to maximize the amount of money they get from their scam. In their rush they often leave behind obvious mistakes. If you notice one mistake too many then it’s worth doing more investigations on that company.
Remember, the more research you do at the beginning the more likely you are to avoid falling for a scam!
Check if the company you want to complete Micro-Tasks for is registered, has a legal company number and a fixed company address
All legitimate companies, regardless of what country the company they’re based in, should have a realistic business address. If you find a company who say they have an office with 100 staff based out of a small residential address it’s a certain indicator that company is not genuine.
Also, if the company you’re looking to work with claim that they’re based registered legal company always check if they are registered with their local State or Country.
Fraudulent companies will often avoid having a publicly displayed address or registered company number as it makes it easy for them to disappear once they’ve scammed enough people!
Research the company you want to work for
Doing your research (also know as doing your due diligence) often proves the difference between working with a genuine company or wasting your time (or money!)
We hear so many horror stories about people who have been scammed, which could have been avoided if they simply did a bit of research.
For example, a quick Google search often shows enough information to determine whether the company you want to work for can be trusted.
Things to research should include who runs the company, how long the company has been established for and what other people working for the company say.
If the company you want to work with are genuine they’ll have customers and suppliers they work with and you shouldn’t have many worrying findings when researching them.
However, remember that companies offering Micro-Task work often work with thousands of people, so a small number of negative reviews should always be expected as not everyone working for them will have a good experience – and this is usually because they’ve misunderstood how to complete the work successfully or have provided poor quality work that they have not ultimately been paid for!
Look for a legitimate phone number and postal address
If there is no way to contact a company you want to work for using an offline method such as a phone call or postal address this may be a red flag that the company you want to work for are not real or genuine. Website domain names and email addresses are incredibly easy to obtain and provide no proof that the company you want to work for are legitimate. Therefore having an email address is not as reliable as having offline contact information.
It’s important for us to also mention that, thanks to modern technology, phone numbers and email addresses are also now incredibly easy to fake. Getting a fake phone number and email address can be obtained within seconds and often for free.
Therefore before doing any work, we would recommend making a call to the company you want to work for, check to see if the business has a legitimate postal address and do your research online.
Check the WHOIS data about the website domain name you are looking at
Sometimes, it’s possible to find the name and information for the person who registered the website for the company you want to work for.
Using a WHOIS search can show you when the website was created and when it will expire. If a website was only created recently, or will expire soon, then this may point to the website being a cover for a scam. However, it could also be the company is simply new and, if there are no other red flags about the company, it may still be worth proceeding with caution.
Also, if the company doesn’t provide their WHOIS data it doesn’t mean they aren’t legitimate. In fact, most businesses now hide their website WHOIS data by default for security reasons.
