Asked by: chasask-ga
I have recently beenn looking for ways to make money from home. Most of the "survey" websites appear to be scams. However, the above website appears to be genuine, and I can't find any reference to it relating to a scam. They claim to pay 1% of your account balance per day for looking at websites. I am thinking of investing AU$100. Could a researcher look into this please!
Answered By: scriptor-ga
Dear chasask,
There are certain indications that are usually typical for scams. In the case of StudioTraffic.com, I have found a number of these indications.
I. The lack of proper contact information
Reputable companies do not conceal their real address, phone and fax numbers. Scam companies do this, and so does also StudioTraffic. Their address is not listed anywhere on their website. I have checked for the owner of their domain name, and the result is most suspicious. The domain has been registered for StudioTraffic by a company named "Whois Privacy Protection Service, Inc". This is one of the anonymizer services spammers and scammers use to avoid being traced by their victims. A reputable company just does not have any reason to hide their face.
II. Questionable ways of advertising
I have searched the Usenet archives and found out that in numerous cases, StudioTraffic has been advertised by persons who are suspiciously enthusiastic about the service - and who have been spamming various Newsgroups with similar advertisements for other "make money fast", "make money by surfing the Web", "get paid for surveys" services. I have no doubt that they are professional spammers who regularly advertise obscure scam companies, using anonymous and easily replacable Yahoo and Hotmail e-mail accounts. A reputable company does not use such means of advertising their services.
III. Sign-up fee
As a general rule: If a company demands a sign-up fee and similar payments for granting you the privilege of working for them, then it's scam time. I have had a look at the FAQs - and there is not the slightest guarantee that you will ever earn notable amounts of money after having signed up with them. Basically, they use many words to say: 'You give us money, and after that there is a slight chance but no whatsoever guarantee that you will earn any money. You can give us more money, but that won't change anything except that your account status will have a more fancy name'. Or, as they say in their FAQ: "Are payouts guaranteed at Studiotraffic? - We cannot guarantee earnings..."
IV. Discrepancy between claims and reality
I have found virtually thousands of sites, forum postings and Usenet postings that enthusiastically praise StudioTraffic - allegedly by users, but the word choice looks amazingly similar in many cases, down to identical phrases. Many included magniloquent statements, along the lines of the "phenomenal growth" of the service. But there are not many postings of people who have actually earned noteworthy amounts, although one should assume that the huge number of enthusiastic users must be proud of their easy money and tell the world how much they earned. Much advertising disguised as customer opinions, but very few manifest cases of success - highly suspicious.
My conclusion: Be cautious. StudioTraffic demand money without ensuring earnings, use questionable ways of advertising, and hide their identitiy and location behind an anonymizing service. That is not the behaviour of a respectable company. Even if they are reputable, their behaviour disqualifies them. I advise against signing up with them.
Regards,
Scriptor
Sources:
BLooD: "Start making money now :-)" (2004-09-29).via
Google Groups.
http://groups.google.de/groups?hl=de&lr=&newwindow=1&c2coff=1&selm=5XF6d.119743%24U04.45182%40fe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk
Steven Choo: "Hi my friend, take a look at this" (2004-11-29).via Google Groups.
http://groups.google.de/groups?hl=de&lr=&newwindow=1&c2coff=1&selm=c4ee7402.0411290844.38f317d9%40posting.google.com
Allwhois Domain Database
http://www.allwhois.com/cgi-bin/allwhois.cgi
Search terms used:
studiotraffic scam
http://groups.google.de/groups?q=studiotraffic%20scam&hl=de&lr=&newwindow=1&c2coff=1&sa=N&tab=wg
author:weshop4you@yahoo.com
http://groups.google.de/groups?hl=de&lr=&newwindow=1&c2coff=1&q=author:weshop4you%40yahoo.com+
author:blood585@hotmail.com
http://groups.google.de/groups?q=author:blood585%40hotmail.com&hl=de&lr=&newwindow=1&c2coff=1&filter=0
studiotraffic
http://groups.google.de/groups?hl=de&lr=&newwindow=1&c2coff=1&q=studiotraffic&btnG=Suche
"Whois Privacy Protection Service"
http://www.google.de/search?hl=de&q=%22Whois+Privacy+Protection+Service%22&btnG=Google-Suche&meta=
"Whois Privacy Protection Service"
http://groups.google.de/groups?q=%22Whois%20Privacy%20Protection%20Service%22&hl=de&lr=&newwindow=1&c2coff=1&sa=N&tab=wg
studiotraffic earned
http://www.google.de/search?hl=de&newwindow=1&c2coff=1&q=studiotraffic+earned&btnG=Suche&meta=
studiotraffic
http://www.google.de/search?hl=de&newwindow=1&c2coff=1&q=studiotraffic&btnG=Suche&meta=
Comments
From: harryj75-ga
Hi,
I am a member of Stdio Traffic. Scriptor accused me of being a profssional spammer and that Studio Traffic was a scam. Scriptor and anyone else who thinks we are a scam why dont you come on over to studio traffic and chat to us on the forums then you will find out that we are for real and that Scriptor is just spreading his own
opinion on Studio Traffic. We have over 60,000 members all of who are happy to invest with us.
From: bwh318-ga
Someone sent me a link to this page in the process of deciding whether or not to join StudioTraffic. After reading the Answer given here, I have to say that I believe Scriptor has done a disservice to the person who asked the question and to anyone else who might be reading this.
I. The lack of proper contact information
This program, as far as I know, has no central headquarters. It is administered by people all over the world. It is not a business operating out of one office. This is nothing new on the Internet, and not at all unusual. There are several very reputable companies operating like this. I would not blame the owner of this program one bit if he decided that he did not want to reveal his personal address and contact info. From the EPIC website http://www.epic.org/privacy/whois/, one can read the following:
"Domain name registrants in the .com/.org/.net top-level domains consist of businesses; individuals; media organizations; non-profit groups; public interest organizations; political organization; religious organizations; support groups; and so on (e.g. EPIC is a domain name registrant for "epic.org"). Domain name registrants share their services, ideas, views, activities, and more by way of websites, email, newsgroups, and other Internet media. While some domain name registrants use the Internet to conduct fraud, other domain name registrants have legitimate reasons to protect their identities (and so their privacy and personal information) or to register domain names anonymously. For example, different political, artistic and religious groups around the world rely on the Internet to provide information and express views while avoiding persecution - and concealing their identity is crucial in this respect." It is IMPORTANT
From: pelichin-ga
Scriptor is a stupid and very ignorant. Studiotraffic is NOT A SCAM. Studiopay has the office in New York. A real office. Most of company already of 95% about eran more are scam, despite has the label o seal "whois". Do you know that the last mounth paid to users a total amounth of "250000$" when ST start at zero founds since the site launched. How is it? It easy. The staff hard work everyday. Members are happy. What site has more than 70000 members and are happy. Sux the term "whois laws" Anyone know and very active forum about "earn money from your conection"?
I am consered a fan Studiotraffic member. I think that the scriptor text is very stupid and lammer.
THE MOST IMPORTANT IS STUDIOTRAFFIC WORKS AND PAY TO USERS. CURRENT THE BEST AUTOSURF SITE AND PEHARPS THE BEST COMPANY WIN MONEY IN INTERNET
From: swamphandy-ga
... just browsing through, reading Q & A for fun. I know a Shill when I see one, and this is one.
My 2¢
From: studioexperiment-ga
A friend and I are actually testing this right now. We're skeptical, but our primitive analysis showed studiotraffic to have a hand up on the other programs that scream "scam".
Our site outlines why we're testing it, and what progress we've made.
http://tayshovel.tripod.com/studio/
If it's a failure, we'll be the first to say so. We're hoping that in the very least our site is a resource to those who ask this very question: "Is it a scam".
...we're trying to solidify an answer.
From: anwami-ga
As a user of Studiotraffic for over a year, and someone naturally skeptical of any sort of money making scheme, I'll try to give a sane and balanced perspective.
I am technically violating the terms there which say not to discuss Studio Traffic outside their forums http://www.studiotraffic.org/forum/ So I can't get too specific.
Anyway, since the site will give you a $10 account level free (not an actual $10, but a starting balance to earn the 1% a day on) you can start without paying a dime. If you "compound" these earnings and surf every day, you could conceivably have a balance of $10000 in 2 1/2 years without ever risking a penny of your own money. That level would then earn you $100 a day, or about $3000 a month.
I requested a withdraw today (from a much more modest balance) and received payment of $100 in about 12 hours. So in that sense, yes the program works as advertised.
You need to read and understand the terms, you can never withdraw any deposit you make, only the earnings from said deposits. Moreover, those deposits disappear after 1 year. So you need to keep putting your earnings back into the system in order to maintain and grow your balance.
Ultimately it may reflect a Ponzi type scheme, that money coming out comes from the current money being paid in. The site has been around for over 1 1/2 years, which is a long time, relatively speaking. It could shut down without warning though, and leave you with nothing but a "Cannot Find Server" message.
In the meantime, it provides me a little extra mad money.. Some folks report they are withdrawing a couple thousand bucks every month, so it could make for a nice supplemental income in time, or right away with a large enough investment. Just be sure you understand the risks, and don't put in any more than you can afford to lose.. again, starting with the free $10 is a viable option.
But for now at least, the program does pay. Should it ever stop.. Expect to hear in large numbers very vocally from those same people spamming the hype for it now.. I'd disagree with Scriptor on the point that the site itself is the spammer.. with a referral program in place, many folks will do the spamming for them, and may get deleted if caught and enough complaints come in.. But the site itself needs to do little advertising.. such is the nature of the beast with MLM types of things.
Give it a try, have fun, and caveot emptor!
From: sozo-ga
To Will and the other skeptics:
After joining, I am sure you will be pleased with the outcome of your venture! Will, I look forward to reading your updates!
I joined StudioTraffic at the end of September '04 with $200. I have since taken my original investment out (I didn't want to lose my money) I was scared just like everyone else. Since then, I have had others sign up under me and I am currently earning about $200/month, but that number is increasing every month!
A friend of mine got me started, and he is currently drawing $6000/month. (That's right, six grand a month).
This isn't hearsay from a friend of a friend...I know him personally and see him almost every day. He has gotten back WELL over his initial investment and is doing quite well financially.
You don't HAVE to get others to sign up, but the extra money is nice.
To anyone that doubts the program, just throw twenty bucks in there and give it a try for a few months. If you lose it, you haven't lost more than a good dinner. But if you start drawing $100 a month, Don't complain that you didn't start off with a larger investment!
Notice I'm not giving my referral number for Studio, so I have NOTHING to gain here. Just sharing the knowledge of wealth with others.
From: weehoi-ga
Hi there everyone, what Scriptor had written are really professional and it's about the same thing on my mind.
To the other guys: Yes, I do know Studio Traffic pays. But ultimately, the point I want you people to know that their streams of revenue comes from Ponzi strategy which is 'using new members investments to pay old member 1% gains'. This is an illegal way of making money as a form of investment by investment companies.
People say they've been around for 2 years which is 'long' and guess what, the fact is ponzi scheme will be able to last for a very long time up to 10 years as long as the growth is sustained.
There's a HYIP which pays 3% and it lasted for 2 years which is primefund.com and finally ended sometime last month. All ponzis eventually went out of business.
There's 2 things to take note here:
1. Identification - A legitimate / illegitimate company will / must at least register with the federal government and PAY TAXES. Ask yourself guys, 'Is it legal to make money and not paying any government taxes at all?' Don't argue craps with me like whatever Roth IRA, Starker Exchange Exemptions. All people will pay taxes.
2. Revenues - Please get real peeps, your 1% comes from the new member ok. Don't try to make another reason or believe that their revenue comes from big companies advertising as written on their FAQs because i've seen they tried very hard to sell advertisement space but couldn't get. I repeat, they use new members investment to pay your 1% everyday. DON'T THINK OR SAY there are other sources of revenue because if there are, it couldn't be more possible that if it's not from new member investment.
3. You will make money from ponzi and pyramid schemes eventhough they are illegitimate as long as you survive more than 100 days.
My advice is don't put the money you cannot afford to lose and not to invest too much on ponzis. Hope you guys find my comment truthful and honest.
Cheers.
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