Popular Medium Writer Promotes Scam Website: Respondent.io

While we find and often present legit opportunities to earn money online, several more hide dangers for their users behind the façade of earning.

Occasionally you will come across stories about a side-hustle opportunity, but they may not be what it seems.

This article is about a story I discovered on Medium by a writer with 3200 followers who completely disregards due diligence and drags his audience down a dark and dangerous path.

Either way, I have to warn everyone against the website in question, and I will expose the danger it poses in detail.

So, with this article, we explore the scam website Respondent.io and how easy it becomes for crooks and perhaps even more serious criminals to exploit anyone that disregards the importance of online privacy.

I won’t go into many details about the motives of the writer who presented this platform. However, I will describe the flaws in the narrative.

I only have this question:

After reading my article would you promote this website on your blog, on Medium, to your friends, your followers, and your family?

Would you write about it on social media and vouch for its trustworthiness?

Let’s enter this rabbit hole.

Who Is Respondent.io?

The domain Respondent.io was registered in 2016. They supposedly registered it in Iceland (IS), although we have no way of telling if this is true. They registered the domain using namecheap.com. The rest details are redacted for privacy.

Looking across the internet, we can find several comments promoting this website and a few objections that appear more reliable.

Earn And Burn

The article is titled “Search on Google & Earn $145. (PayPal Payment Proof)”.

It has already received hundreds of claps and apparently thousands of views:

I won’t just pretend this didn’t happen. This story comes from a Medium writer with 3,2K followers.

I can’t allow incompetence and lack of due diligence to thrive.

There’s a direction that makes little sense, the concept of doing anything as long as it pays. Ultimately, this route is not a wise decision and will leave you in a position where you are doing the bidding of criminals.

I always perform due diligence and share precise warnings with my followers and readers.

A writer has to serve the audience, becoming a shield to protect them from dangers.

There was nothing else to do when stumbling upon clueless and harmful content.

Search on Google & Earn $145 PayPal Payment Proof

For the rest of this story, I will refer to the writer of the story in question as “Our guy”.
We begin with the title, where there’s no mention of the website, while the cover image is also irrelevant.

There’s no way of knowing what our guy wants to suggest until after the introduction ends.

Meanwhile, right from the opening, our guy begs for followers and asks readers to subscribe with their email.

Quote from the article:

But, before starting this secret money hack, If you are new here and want to make money online using secret method then Follow me-

Also, subscribe to email to get notifications whenever I publish articles related to making money online. You will be the first to read and make more money than others.

While I didn’t think of this initially, subscribing is also an issue, especially when the writer suggests joining shady websites.

He gets your email address when you sub and can use your email to send various spam. So, if you subscribed to our guy, don’t be surprised if you start receiving various scam emails.

So, lesson one, be careful where you subscribe.

I am still puzzled why this article gets so many likes and traffic.

Hopefully, it doesn’t have to do with an abuse of the recent boost system Medium announced (which by the way, I completely disagree with). I sincerely hope no publication editor boosted this crap that leads to a scam website. That would be unfortunate.

However, I digress, and the new boost feature of Medium that empowers selected publication editors is another topic for another time.

It takes just a few SECONDS to realize the scam here and how the scammers want people for one single job: money laundering.

Our guy explains:

First, come over to this platform called Respondent.io

There is one HUGE red flag with the website this article promotes that nobody can ignore. It is this task:

This is what these scammers want.

They find people to create bank accounts and launder money. This criminal syndicate will take advantage of anyone trying to exchange personal information for a small sum of money, and they use these means to launder money earned from criminal activities.

Revealing your financial information to unknown people on the internet is foolish. You are responsible for any consequences that may come.

Also, it is illegal for any website to host such requests. Even in case, this is not the website offering these assignments, the website still participates in criminal activity to facilitate money laundering. It oughts to intervene and remove such requests. Yet, as we find out, this site exists to extract the personal and financial information of its users.

If You Think You Can Play The Game, You Got It All Wrong

I am clear in all my articles to stop posting your real identity online and stop using your private information.

Sure, some people probably think that they got nothing to lose while living in poverty, and earning $100 would be great, especially when the average wage in some parts of the world is no more than $5/day.

No. You got it all wrong and here’s why:

1. They won’t pay 90–99% of their users.

2. They will ask you to bring more people in with referrals so they can scam as many as possible and have a plethora of identification information to use.

3. They will use your details to open bank accounts that will be used for money laundering from various criminal activities like drug and human trafficking.

4. You will get in trouble as you will be considered an accomplice in this money laundering scheme.

5. By allowing scammers to access your financial and private details you will be their victim for a long term. They will keep updating your data by using and selling your information in dark-web marketplaces for a long time.

6. If you think you are already poor and you got nothing to lose, then you are probably planning for a lifetime of poverty and trouble.

7. They are always looking for influential social media accounts AND idiotic writers with a follower base to advertise their scams.

Be my guest and share your private information with scammers, criminals, and global organized crime. Are you sure you want these people to hold information like your name, address, financial details, bank account, phone number, facial recognition data, and biometrics?

Moving on to what our guy suggests:

Yesterday I complete a task that pays me $145 to research about a product for 1 hour after that, I apply for the job and go to google and search for those products and did deep research then I give feedback to the owner of those products.

Then our guy shares a “proof of payment”.

Wow, $145 on his PayPal!

For what? Even this part should raise suspicions.

He doesn’t explain but only mumbles about “a product” without even naming it. He just talks about how he performed “thorough” research for one hour before sharing his feedback with the product owner.

This task is clear bait for all the users who will not earn anything from any of the supposed tasks this platform offers until they also try the $15 one and create an account for the mafia to launder money using your name.

They will pay a person with an influence, though, so that our guy will make the scam known to more people.

Some assignments this website proposes:

COOL STORY, BRO!

You might be Chinese and earn $70 cause some random person on the internet is just paying you to chat about an alcohol ad. And if you are not convinced here’s a task you can talk about your music experience and earn $45:

Now I’m going to apply for the job and if the result then I definitely make part to of this article.

“Our guy”, with his poor English, suggests he can make the experience of musicians better, and he will earn another $45 by creating 60 minutes of content for the music industry!

They won’t pay 99% of their users anything else. However, they could pay a few with a certain audience. A writer with thousands of followers would be the perfect bait.

For them, people like “our guy” are useful idiots that will promote their scam as long as he receives $100.

Our guy will keep promoting the scam for years if they keep paying him, and he might even visit forums and other platforms strongly condemning anyone exposing the fraud.

Have you witnessed shills supporting a scam before?

Meanwhile, the scammers will fulfill their purpose by having these useful idiots indirectly assist them in laundering money.

And they will do that without even their name attached to a bank or a financial institution.

If you are that naïve, then think again about what you are going to say to the authorities when they accuse you of money laundering. Cause this will be your name on the bank accounts and statements criminals will use. It won’t be the scammers that operate this website that will be in trouble but their users.

Stupidity, will not stand as an excuse at court.

If you follow “our guy’s” advice, the only proof you will need to possibly get a better sentence in court is Proof of stupidity.

The scammers got everything, and you handed it all out:

• Login details

• IPs

• Personal Information

• Your face if you recorded a video for them

• IDs

• Bank and financial details

Why do you think they want your face on a video?

With modern AI software, they can easily make you say whatever they want. They can use your video to contact banks, and together with all your details, they can open an account under your name.

They can enter Zoom calls with your face in there. They can not just fake a paper identity, but they can contact people claiming it is you. They can call your mom and dad and ask to send them money. Using your voice and your face from the 1-hour video you recorded.

Sure maybe this is far-fetched, and today they can’t process a video in such detail, but these scammers plan for the future. They store your video for when the time is right. And if you follow tech news, it is a matter of a few years before this scam becomes the new norm.

You are giving them a bank account to launder money with your name in it, your biometrics, and all of your details.

I have reported the article, but Medium did not act. It is still deceiving and luring unaware individuals.

This obvious scam did not need validation, yet I searched the internet, and it all checked out as expected.

I found a Reddit post from 2018 about Respondent.io, so it wasn’t a new website, as “our guy” suggested. I leave it to my audience to decide if we can attribute our guy’s deceptive approach to ignorance or malice.

This Reddit post confirmed my suspicions, but we didn’t need to search this much. This site seems connected to a serious criminal organization and poses a real threat to anyone using it.

Let’s watch how our guy is pushing this scam website:

If all sounds good then let’s begin this new secret money-making hack step-by-step.

The scam is running for almost four years, yet “our guy” mentions it as a new secret money-making hack (!!), which is all BS wording used there.

Did he not know about it? Did he accidentally stumbled upon it lately? Is there perhaps something else going on?

My main issue with the writer is the lack of due diligence, but also the authority and conviction utilized when presenting this scam to his audience.

This platform uses all other offers as decoys and will pay a few shills in forums and social media, while 99% won’t earn even if they produce top-quality content for the tasks.

Let’s see how other internet shills promote this scam website:

This guy from Reddit (an account with 200,000 karma (somehow positive too) accuses the users, and also claims that he earns remarkable amounts of money from it while calling it “trustworthy”.

So, consider how an internet shill for a platform approaches criticism instead of acknowledging the responsibility of the website to delete any such illegal request that will financially damage its users.

Moreover, a typical approach of scammers is to shift all the blame to the victim. However, in this case, it is not difficult to realize you shouldn’t mess with this website. It is financially insane to share such details. It is also dangerous to pass your real name and identity to a platform you never heard of before because it claims it will pay you.

All the tasks are a decoy, as we said before.

Clearly, though, this internet shill is there to defend the scam website and direct the blame to anything else. His argument is simply invalid.

The reason this site exists is to steal financial information and create bank accounts for the money laundering business. If our guy or this Reddit clown doesn’t realize this but only wants to shift the blame to the users while calling this platform trustworthy (!!!), then they are equally suspicious.

It appears that our guy was planning for referral promotion, too, although I’m not sure he engaged with this site further:

You can also earn $20 if you refer your friend on this website. In the next part of this article, I definitely cover also How you can earn $100 daily using their referral program.

- Our guy

Finally, it seems this site is using PayPal for these payments.

It’s easy for anyone to scam you by using PayPal’s chargeback. They have many ways to ask for their money back, and PayPal or even your bank will force you to pay. Still, I didn’t find any relevant discussion online, but I mention this common PayPal scam, which is utilized often when bartering gaming items or even cryptocurrency.

Nobody is paying you unless you produce something significant and protect yourself. There is always a catch.

My Advice To Users Of Respondend.io

This is not a simple scam. Money laundering is the main reason this site exists.

If you have shared private information, financial details, identity, and any other information with this website, you should take steps to protect yourself immediately.

• Contact your bank(s) and explain that you may have shared financial details with scammers online. This will save you a lot of trouble later, and you will get advice from security professionals.

• Renew your ID and destroy the old one. Don’t mention the reason to the ID department, just tell them you lost it.

• Cancel all your credit/debit cards, and issue new ones.

• You could try asking the site to delete your data, but I’d bet any amount that they won’t. Even if they tell you they removed all your information, how could you verify it? You can’t. They are scammers, they don’t care.

You can get in serious trouble even if you think you can keep using such platforms and get away unharmed.

Any money you earn from this platform will not suffice to cover what you will need for a lawyer, the time you will have to spend with your case, and your emotional state.

The scammers can anytime start issuing credit cards with your credentials. You allowed this to happen.

Your bank and financial authorities will hunt you down for the lavish lifestyle someone else is living at your expense.

Consider again what mistakes you are making by believing the fairy tales of any random person on the internet.

It Is Not Much, But It Is Honest Work

If you want to see REAL opportunities, here are some. I am in crypto for six years and never stopped warning people and explaining how to safely proceed within this vastly confusing ecosystem:

• Here’s How To Earn Cryptocurrency In 2023 With No Investment

My article covers legit ways you can earn some crypto. I invested and earned crypto for years without having to pass my details to scammers or share my financial information with anyone.

It is not much, but this is honest work, and if you hold for a few years, the small airdrop rewards can mature into a decent profit.

Yet, beware that scams exist everywhere. I specifically mention the dangers and how to avoid them.

If you aren’t sure about a project or a product, be reasonable. Some people can help you avoid some dangers, but you have to figure out the rest on your own.

You can easily avoid every scam if you play the game safely.

TRUST NO ONE.

If anything seems too good to be true, then, most probably, it is a scam.

Everyone is out there to get you. You can make some money online in your free time, but you should learn to recognize the deceptive techniques from honest platforms asking for skills and experience.

• Cover Picture on Pixabay

Also Read:

• ATTENTION! Scammers Are Impersonating Writers - Stay Vigilant

Platforms:

● read.cash ● noise.cash ● noise.app ● Medium ● Medium ● Hive ● Steemit ●Vocal  
● Minds ● Publish0x ● Twitter ● CashRain ● Me.dm

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