Is Greenzap the newest online scam?

Published on May 26, 2005 By Gideon MacLeish In Blogging

I've seen more than a few invitations to join Greenzap. While I have considered it (hey, even paypal paid you to join when they started up!), I also have to think back over my time online.

There was a time when I was determined to make a living off of my online time. Paid email, pay to surf, pay per click, you name it, I did it. While I did make money off of a minority of those companies, the majority were scams. Either the payout limit was so high that you could never hope to reach it at their pay rates, or once you DID reach the payout point, they accused you of cheating and took away all your points (Cashfiesta was the one that did that, for anyone who ever considered using THAT scam; after I got burned, I checked message boards and found it was common practice for them). In essence, what they are doing is fraudulent, and is a theft of your time and resources.

Now enter Greenzap. While I have seen it mentioned many times, I saw for the first time today a site that questioned their credibility. Unfortunately, it didn't load properly, and I couldn't read the text. But I'm inclined to remember the old maxim, "if it sounds too good to be true..."

At worst, I'll be left short $25 I could have had. AT the least that will be one less company out of the 5 billion that already have my personal info.

Comments

PJ_

on May 26, 2005

Ah, I remember the days when I, too, thought you could get something for nothing. I believe the paid-to-surf company I used, ClickDough, got burned by some third party that was serving their advertisements, and the money they made off the ads was considerable less than they expected. But they were straight with me, and paid me ~$20 just like they said they would. Gave me a sense of accomplishment, as if I were getting something accomplished when I was online, instead of just tooling around on the internet. Of course, one day of working at Wendy's made me more money than all the time i spent surfing the web, but I couldn't get that job until i was 16.

And there was this other site, treeloot.com, that said you could win prizes by clicking on stuff. I didn't win a thousand dollars, but I did get a stuffed monkey.

Of course, if you want something of real value then you have to give something of real value in return (sell something, get a job, etc.). But something-for-nothing is a nice dream, and you can never have too many stuffed animals.

ThereFan

on Jun 14, 2005

GreenZap will most likely turn out to be a scam.

I suggest anyone read the following items before signing up

1. read the privacy/opt out policy for greenzap before giving GreenZap your email address
2. http:// www.sandiego.bbb.org/commonreport.html?compid=20007693 (better business bureau)
3. http:// www.retroject.org/zaptruth/

Should you choose to sign up, realize that you will not receive $25 cash, you will recieve a 25 webcash credit in your GreenZap account which is not currently accepted by any online merchant.

To participate in the reward program, you will have to send $100 via bank transfer or money order to greenzap and convince all the people beneath you to also send in $100 by June 21st. GreenZap will not release any details about it's board of directors, what the reward program is, or even how to pay with greenzap until the 22nd - after they have your $100

They do not accept credit cards for this $100 transaction. Credit card transactions offer fraud/scam protection to their members, odd that greenzap does not accept that form of payment.

Be warey of offers for free cash, especially when the only way to get that cash is by first sending in money.

ThereFan

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