With many people around on the internet interested to make quick money, organizations that misuse this keep cropping up every now and then. They just don’t seem to know how many people suffer due to their fraudulent approach. In today's post, I will be telling you how to identify a SCAM PTC site and why the PTC sites turn into scams.
What Is PTC, after all?
But first things first! PTC is an acronym that means - Pay to Click or Paid to Click. What this means is that someone gets paid to click something on the internet. With the burst of the Dot Com bubble in the late 90s, everyone wanted to have a website. Now after all this, it was - who will visit the sites? SEO was quite unknown during those days and mostly was done on the Meta Tags. Site Visibility using search engine was quite remote as the people those days were neither that Search Engine Friendly nor were willing to go by the new names. They preferred to stick with the sites that they knew.
So the new websites that were getting created thought of something that would help them gain visibility for their sites and PTC was born. But who would click or view their sites without money getting involved? Hence money was brought into the big picture.
What Is PTC, after all?
But first things first! PTC is an acronym that means - Pay to Click or Paid to Click. What this means is that someone gets paid to click something on the internet. With the burst of the Dot Com bubble in the late 90s, everyone wanted to have a website. Now after all this, it was - who will visit the sites? SEO was quite unknown during those days and mostly was done on the Meta Tags. Site Visibility using search engine was quite remote as the people those days were neither that Search Engine Friendly nor were willing to go by the new names. They preferred to stick with the sites that they knew.
So the new websites that were getting created thought of something that would help them gain visibility for their sites and PTC was born. But who would click or view their sites without money getting involved? Hence money was brought into the big picture.
Today, people have also found out another way to get their site displayed to some people using click exchange programs but that is not the part of discussion here.
Who Joins the PTC?
There are thousands of people who join the PTC sites and hope to make an earning from these sites. Generally the following sets of people join the PTCs -
a. Housewives
b. Students
c. Working People
d. Retired People
e. Others
Why Join PTC?
The reasons for joining PTC vary from person to person but in most cases it is the need of that extra money that one can make easily from these sites that lures them into joining a PTC site.
Some other people also join just because their friend, who has joined a PTC, is in need of a referral.
How Do the PTCs Work?
The business of PTC is similar to the other businesses. They have income and expenses.
Earnings -
The income of the sites comes through two channels -
a. The websites that they advertise
b. The people who register with them as so called Premium members.
Expenses -
The PTC sites that are legal have the following expenses -
a. Payment to the people who view and click their displayed ads which is the bulk expense
b. Setting up the Website and investing in the initial advertisements of their sites
For Members
Who Joins the PTC?
There are thousands of people who join the PTC sites and hope to make an earning from these sites. Generally the following sets of people join the PTCs -
a. Housewives
b. Students
c. Working People
d. Retired People
e. Others
Why Join PTC?
The reasons for joining PTC vary from person to person but in most cases it is the need of that extra money that one can make easily from these sites that lures them into joining a PTC site.
Some other people also join just because their friend, who has joined a PTC, is in need of a referral.
How Do the PTCs Work?
The business of PTC is similar to the other businesses. They have income and expenses.
Earnings -
The income of the sites comes through two channels -
a. The websites that they advertise
b. The people who register with them as so called Premium members.
Expenses -
The PTC sites that are legal have the following expenses -
a. Payment to the people who view and click their displayed ads which is the bulk expense
b. Setting up the Website and investing in the initial advertisements of their sites
For Members
For the Members of the PTC site, these offer prices per click. The members are to view a set of advertisements for a pre-specified time mostly 30 seconds to 60 seconds and they are paid $0.001 to $1.00 per click. This depends on the pre-decided amount. The payments to the members are made after they reach a minimum payout limit via different modes - Online Money Transfers, Online Agencies, Cheque and various other methods.
All these vary from the Site to Site. I have tried to provide the ranges and details as I could find them. Please consult the support or your up line (if you were referred) for the correct details prevalent for your PTC.
Why Do the PTC become SPAMS
As there are good guys and the bad guys, same is the case with people who run the PTC sites. Some of them, trust me - a very few of them - are legal and have a history of paying their members. But most of them turnout to be scams. The reasons why this happens are
All these vary from the Site to Site. I have tried to provide the ranges and details as I could find them. Please consult the support or your up line (if you were referred) for the correct details prevalent for your PTC.
Why Do the PTC become SPAMS
As there are good guys and the bad guys, same is the case with people who run the PTC sites. Some of them, trust me - a very few of them - are legal and have a history of paying their members. But most of them turnout to be scams. The reasons why this happens are
i. The site was started to be a Scam
Sad, but true! There are people who are interested in making money more than building value and earning a name for themselves. So they start up with a small site, hunt for some local websites who would be interested to pay them some cash for advertising their sites. They make the money and then when the site is launched, they spend some of this money to get publicity and members. They also lure members to join by showing great benefits and false testimonials of being paid.
ii. The Site did not calculate the registrations correct
This happens with sites that have miscalculated the regular traffic that keeps coming to their website regularly. When you host a site, there are some limitations on the incoming traffic on either a per day basis or a per month basis. If you exceed this, the error - Bandwidth Exceeded - appears to the visitors and the site gets suspended till the matters are resolved.
iii. Disputes with their Paying Agency
This is another reason why the PTC programs get suspended and mostly get closed. They have some payment disputes with the online payment agencies. The payment agencies like paypal or alertpay generally charge both parties - the one who makes the payment and the one who receives the payments. Once there is a slight change in their policies, they may not be acceptable to the payee. So the payee needs to resolve the matters (which in most cases) is not through. So this leads to the PTC site closing down, and we brand it as a scam.
Ok, so how do I decide that a Site Is a Scam?
That is the big question. You have to be sure that the PTC site that you are joining, will it really pay you or you will end up just wasting your precious time. Following are some of the things that you should note before joining any PTC site -
This is another reason why the PTC programs get suspended and mostly get closed. They have some payment disputes with the online payment agencies. The payment agencies like paypal or alertpay generally charge both parties - the one who makes the payment and the one who receives the payments. Once there is a slight change in their policies, they may not be acceptable to the payee. So the payee needs to resolve the matters (which in most cases) is not through. So this leads to the PTC site closing down, and we brand it as a scam.
Ok, so how do I decide that a Site Is a Scam?
That is the big question. You have to be sure that the PTC site that you are joining, will it really pay you or you will end up just wasting your precious time. Following are some of the things that you should note before joining any PTC site -
i. The Minimum Payout
This is the first thing that you should check. The higher the minimum payout limit, the higher the chances that the PTC site is a scam. Generally the Legal PTCs have a minimum payout starting with $1.00. So if your PTC says that it has a minimum payout starting at $100.00, beware there is something more behind the scenes.
ii. Read and Re-Read the Terms and Conditions of the PTC
If it doesn’t have any... then it is a scam. Think this - why wont they publish the TOC if they are legal? There are some sites where they do not make payments but allow you to exchange or advertise your website in lieu of the payments. Most of the sites have a wonderfully written Terms and Conditions and it would appear that they have consulted an advisor who has drafted them. You have to re-read till you understand all of it - yes, all of it not most of it.
If it doesn’t have any... then it is a scam. Think this - why wont they publish the TOC if they are legal? There are some sites where they do not make payments but allow you to exchange or advertise your website in lieu of the payments. Most of the sites have a wonderfully written Terms and Conditions and it would appear that they have consulted an advisor who has drafted them. You have to re-read till you understand all of it - yes, all of it not most of it.
iii. Use WhoIs
WhoIs is a free tool that maintains the details of every site there is on the internet. Anyone can use its service to know the details of any website on the internet. Use this tool to find out the name, e-mail and other information about the administrator of the PTC. If anything is missing or mentions Privacy Protect then the site is not trust worthy.
WhoIs is a free tool that maintains the details of every site there is on the internet. Anyone can use its service to know the details of any website on the internet. Use this tool to find out the name, e-mail and other information about the administrator of the PTC. If anything is missing or mentions Privacy Protect then the site is not trust worthy.
iv. Contact Number or Forum
Search for the Helpline Numbers or enquire about the same in the forums. If they have it, check if the numbers are free and if they are then the chances of the PTC being legal are high. Call them up and verify whether they really exist or not.
v. Contact Address
If they have a contact postal address, try contacting them - maybe through a friend or otherwise. But ensure yourself that they really exist.
If they have a contact postal address, try contacting them - maybe through a friend or otherwise. But ensure yourself that they really exist.
vi. Payment Duration
It is essential to know that when will you be paid. The lesser the time it takes to get your first payment, the better the site is. Also worth mentioning is the fact that you need to know how quick the payments are. Most legal PTC sites pay immediately on request. Those who say need time to process... think twice. It is the age of computers and everything is to be done via computers. So what for do they need the time for processing?
It is essential to know that when will you be paid. The lesser the time it takes to get your first payment, the better the site is. Also worth mentioning is the fact that you need to know how quick the payments are. Most legal PTC sites pay immediately on request. Those who say need time to process... think twice. It is the age of computers and everything is to be done via computers. So what for do they need the time for processing?
vii. Check the Rates for Advertisements
This is also an essential factor in determining whether the PTC site is legal or a scam. What if you find that they charge $100.00 for advertising and pay just a meager $0.00001 per click? Can’t you smell something wrong here?
Checks that you can do After You Join
Many of us might have already joined a couple of PTC sites before reading this article. So here are a couple of things that you can use to find out the Legality of the PTC -
This is also an essential factor in determining whether the PTC site is legal or a scam. What if you find that they charge $100.00 for advertising and pay just a meager $0.00001 per click? Can’t you smell something wrong here?
Checks that you can do After You Join
Many of us might have already joined a couple of PTC sites before reading this article. So here are a couple of things that you can use to find out the Legality of the PTC -
i. The PTCs Ads Mostly
If you find that the PTC is providing you mostly with its own packages (pages from its own site), then you are in a scam site. Consider this - How long will a site pay you for viewing its own pages? There is no income that will be generated in doing this.
If you find that the PTC is providing you mostly with its own packages (pages from its own site), then you are in a scam site. Consider this - How long will a site pay you for viewing its own pages? There is no income that will be generated in doing this.
ii. The PTC Site is down for this reason or that quite frequently
This is again an indication that the site is a scam otherwise why is the site going down frequently? One fine day it will be down and never re-appear.
iii. It’s been quite long but I have not been paid
If it is more than 30 days that you have requested your payment but have not received it, the site is a scam. Otherwise why is it holding out your money?
Lastly, here are a few sites that can help you in finding out whether your PTC site is a scam or not
PTC-Investigations
Scam.com
Remember it’s your precious time and you are in control of wasting it or utilizing it.
Good Luck.
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