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10 Questions That Detect Money-Making Scams in Under 5 Minutes (From 800+ Rounds of Testing)

I spent 800+ rounds systematically testing online earning channels — signup, task execution, payout ledger tracking. Not 800 different schemes; 800 rounds of iteration across ~670 evaluated channels. Here are the 10 questions that would have saved me the most time, distilled into a framework you can run in 5 minutes.

The 10 questions

For each question, score yourself 0-2 (2 = good answer, 0 = red flag). Add them up at the end.

1. What is the advertised earning rate?

  • 2: Specific, modest ($10-50/hour equivalent)
  • 0: Life-changing ($500+/day, financial freedom) or vague (unlimited)

2. How do you get paid?

  • 2: Named platform (PayPal, Stripe, bank transfer)
  • 0: Internal points, conversion rate not published

3. What's the minimum withdrawal?

  • 2: None or very low ($1-5)
  • 0: High ($50+) and you don't know anyone who reached it, OR withdrawal gated on referring users

4. Does the platform ask for identity documents?

  • 2: No, or email verification only
  • 0: ID photo + face video, or government ID + verification fee

5. Where does the income proof come from?

  • 2: Platform-native payout ledger (verifiable)
  • 0: Screenshots of income from selling the course/method itself

6. What do you actually DO to earn?

  • 2: Complete specific tasks (surveys, transcription, coding)
  • 0: Watch ads, recruit others, or the system does it for you

7. What's the upfront cost?

  • 2: Free to join, free to earn
  • 0: Investment required, or free trial that auto-charges with dark-pattern cancellation

8. How old is the platform?

  • 2: 3+ years with active users
  • 0: Just launched, founding member spots

9. Can you verify the payout works in your region?

  • 2: Confirmed — someone you trust has been paid
  • 0: The payout processor doesn't serve your region (this one cost me weeks)

10. After reading the terms, what's your gut?

  • 2: Clear, fair, no surprises
  • 0: Sole discretion, no refunds, hidden fees found on Ctrl+F

Scoring

  • 14-20: Likely legitimate. Proceed with a 30-minute probe before deep investment.
  • 8-13: Proceed with caution. Test with minimal time.
  • 0-7: High risk. Walk away.

Three patterns that repeat

From the full dataset, three patterns killed more time than everything else combined:

  1. The payout rail you can't use. I found a bounty platform with $143K+ in real, paid bounties — all through Stripe, which doesn't pay individuals in my region. The bounties were real; my eligibility was the illusion.

  2. The inversion. The seller's income comes from selling the method, not from the method. If someone shows $10K/month screenshots from a course about earning $10K/month — the method is you.

  3. The session lock. After one mid-survey termination, every future attempt errored with a message telling me to fix something I'd already fixed. Server-side lock; no local cleanup escapes it.

I collected 30 of these patterns — each with the mechanism, the tell, and the math — in The Scam Atlas. This checklist covers 10; the full 15-point version is in there along with all 30 dissected traps.

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