Thursday, June 16, 2011

Microworkers scam: are accusations about payment problems justified?

I recently received a comment from someone on one of my make money online articles complaining about Microworkers payment problems and not being able to get his Microworkers earnings transferred over to his PayPal account.  He was upset and said he couldn’t understand why Microworkers insisted on mailing a PIN number out to him, which he’d not received, and he also implied (at least this was my interpretation) that the whole thing was a Microworkers scam.

As this was not the first time that I have seen complaints made against Microworkers about payment problems online, I thought it merited me writing a blog post.  I figured that I could also give you my own experience of what happened when I asked to transfer my Microworkers earnings from Microworkers to a PayPal account for the first time.  Before that though, I will go through the complaints about payment problems one at a time and provide some possible explanations.


Why do Microworkers send out PIN numbers by mail?

You would have to ask them that.  Although, often though it is done by companies for tax purposes, when they are attempting to show the IRS that they know who they are paying and sending out PIN numbers is a way of verifying someone’s address. 


Is it in Microworkers interest to scam people?

I personally don’t believe that it is.  They are a small company with a relatively small online workforce, certainly when compared to a giant like Amazon and their Mechanical Turk (MTurk), their main make money online rival.  I can’t see why they would want to alienate workers or get a bad reputation just for the sake of a few dollars.  (I have been critical in the past that Microworkers seem too lenient when it comes to some dodgy tasks being advertised on their website, but that is not the same as saying that Microworkers themselves are not legit!)


My own experiences of transferring my earnings from Microworkers to PayPal

Here's what happened with me back when I first requested a Microworkers payment of earnings to my PayPal account online.  I made a request to transfer $10 from my Microworkers earnings to my PayPal account and noted the date that I’d done this.  Within a few days, a message appeared in my Microwokers Account saying that the PIN number had been sent out.  I waited.  After a week had gone by, I began to get a little nervous.  After 10 days of waiting, I began to wonder if there really was a Microworkers scam.  After two weeks, however, I did receive my PIN number and guess what, the letter with the PIN number in it had come all the way from Slovenia (I live in the USA), so I guess that is a big part of the reason why it took so long!

Anyway I entered the PIN on the Microworkers website, which was accepted.  I then had to wait 4 more days while my Microworkers earnings were “pending withdrawal”, according to the Microworkers website.  All in all the process took just under three weeks from me initiating the payment to receiving it in my PayPal account.

So my advice would be to anyone who is seeking to access their Microworkers earnings for the first time, if my case is anything to go by, you will get your money, but don’t expect it to happen quickly!

35 comments:

  1. Yes, so it was with the first payment, but with all next payments Microworkers was a Paid site and Legit. I usualy wait within 24-48 hours for my payments.The poblem now is their Paypal account is deactivated, I don't the reason and how long do I have to wait to withdraw via Paypal..

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  2. @Simona - I didn't know about the PayPal issues. I hope it is fixed now!

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  3. Yes, you were right about paypal. I have the same probs. It means signing up to another payment site, or waiting to see if they sort it out. It's annoying, for sure! I think I might email them and see what they say...

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  4. They are scam. Here goes my history with them http://arjudba.blogspot.com/2011/10/microworkers-scam-company.html

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    1. I read your blog post and actually you have quite a bit wrong on it. Paypal is allowed on microworkers. Paypal only went down temporarily because they had some issues not because the site is illegal. In fact, most online paying sites have issues with paypal at one point or another. It sounds as if you were banned because you were not doing something you were supposed to, not because they are a scam.

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  5. A very good reason and live reason why they are scam company. http://arjudba.blogspot.com/2011/10/microworkers-scam-company.html. Beware from this company. They are scam for sure.

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  6. They are not a scam, at least not for me. They do take a long time for the first pay out, 3 weeks is about what I waited, but after that you can have your money in less than a week. They don't use Paypal and that sucks, but I signed up with Micro workers instead and transfer that money into my bank account. I have made about 200 bucks with them so far, and the worst thing I can say about them is the lack of available jobs.

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    1. They pay 5% of the people and remaining they do not pay. Make people like you say that they pay for the work. But actually does not pay.
      I had two accounts with them because I changed my country. in both I have more than 30 dollars my wage but I have tried for one year to withdraw that money but no replies from them that is it.

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  7. microworkers are ok, but getting the money is hard and you need mail by truck and takes a very long time to get the money. i try a couple others and have ok experience. clickchores.com is ok and payment at $3 by paypal is very good advantage.

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  8. Microworkers is a scam.After I earned $13
    working with this site,I placed a Withdrawal
    request.They sent a email and told me 'We
    could not send payment to your Moneybookers email
    Please verify your Moneybookers email.'.In fact ,
    my moneybookers email works.I accept payments many
    times before.I sent a email and told them my account
    is Ok.After 4 days, my account showed the payment
    was paid but I did not get the money in my moneybookers
    account.I sent many emails to ask them pay me or show me
    the proof of the paid payment but them didn't respond to
    my email.Microworkers.com is a scam site.Be careful,do not
    work with them,they will not pay you.

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  9. I got my Pin , but now they say they paid me but its not showing up in my paypal account and I can''t get them to respond to my e-mails.

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    Replies
    1. I had trouble with them not responding to emails too.

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  10. eish wl wait till I see qualify for a payment

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  11. I've written off my money from MW. The email address and support inbox are both blackholes into which complaints vanish -- I presume unread. It's been more than a month since I requested my PIN. There are people on their Facebook page who say they've been waiting even longer. One woman said it'd been four months.

    MW may have been a legit site in the past, but that's no longer true. And it's not just the workers; clients are complaining about being ripped off as well - http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackhat-seo/affiliate-programs/420110-microworkers-thieves.html

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    Replies
    1. Yes, there are too many problems with them. I've stopped working there and I don't recommend them anymore.

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  12. Waiting for pin 18 days and counting.Cannot understand why if the pin comes from Slovenia and i live in the UK it should take so long.Customer service is terrible,no replies no email responses no matter how friendly,respectful and polite you are they haven't even the decency to answer.Always a bad sign in a company.

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  13. I entered my first pin on 10/18/14. I just barely received my pin and is still pending. Can you imagine the interest the company makes holding all those payments the first month? I quit doing them after 3 weeks cuz I didn't get a payment. Maybe Ill do some more once I get my 60 bucks.

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  14. If you had 3000 new active members per month and they each made 60 dollars the first month then they would have 18000 dollars to draw an interest amount from for a month. It would come out to a decent amount of interest even if the numbers are that low. Maybe they aren't making enough money. I had a few employers that would withdraw funds, draw interest, then pay out on a later check. They must need the interest from the new workers to keep it running.

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  15. Four years since this article was posted and I can tell you Microworkers is still cheating people and withholding their money.

    I accidentally keyed in a wrong Paypal e mail address when requesting a payment of $99.42 in February 2015. When I e mailed Microworkers they said there was nothing they could do to pay me my money unless I asked Paypal to refund it. I immediately telephoned Paypal who confirmed the amount would be refunded to Microworkers 28 days later if it remained unclaimed.

    I contacted Paypal 6 weeks later and they e mailed Microworkers on my behalf confirming the payment had been refunded. I have since sent five support tickets asking why they are not paying me my money but they have ignored every one. When I contacted Paypal to tell them I still have not been paid they said the only thing left for me to do was report them for theft.

    I personally have written off the money they have in effect stolen from me but even when I wrote to them asking them to delete my account they ignored that e mail too! Any negative comment posted on their Facebook page is immediately deleted.

    My advice to anyone reading this who is thinking of joining Microworkers is do not bother. They have been cheating people for the last 6 years and no doubt if they can get away with it they will keep on cheating people our of their hard earned money for the next 6.


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    Replies
    1. Yes, I did in micro workers. They won't pay us. I tried and left unsuccefully..

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  16. well i waited more than 40 days but finally i got it yesterday :) my problem now is that my paypal account is not verified and i can't verify it because i'm from Tunisia :(

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  17. Hi,
    Could you tell me how much an Indian worker can earn at microworkers? Like, an average rate for a month.

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  18. they never pay 5 weeks no pins no support

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  19. Hi
    I am doing work in micro workers from the past 3 months. I requested a 9 dollar payment on March 11,2017.I got pin with in one day through google mail and I entered in the confirmation box, then I requested or the payment. It's been 22 days but, I didn't receive any payment. It's showing pending in the status. I sent a support message on 26th March. As per the rule of micro workers, I should get a reply with in 5 days. But, I didn't get any reply. I think this site is a scam. I have no chance of asking the best workers in the site because there is no option in it. If you guys have any new ways to ask them, would you help me.

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    Replies
    1. Hello, Sir! Update on your withdrawal; were you able to claim your earnings?

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  20. I have requested mine over a month ago, and have not received my pin given that their guidelines said it takes 5 - 25 days. I inquired about this and was answered it was being processed. I don't think I'm ever going to get my money. I'm from the Philippines btw.

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  21. Hi, Faiqah. Same case with me. It's almost 3 weeks and Microworker can't even complete the task of processing the PIN. The status still 'pending'. Me too, don't think i ever get the money. Employer already paid them to give to workers, but Microworkers purposely hold our money with intention not to pay us. :(

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    Replies
    1. Sorry, my case is not 3 weeks but almost 3 months.

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  22. Almoths 3 months and not still pending. How many months Microworkees need to send me the PIN? Avoid Microworkers!

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  23. I ve been waiting since 2 weeks for paypal money from microworkers but nothing . Sure its scam

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  24. Microworkers is NOT a scam. I've been using this site for years. It's true that the initial withdrawal takes a LONG time as you will have to wait for the PIN that they send out via snail mail. For some reason their letter is sent from Slovenia. I am from the Philippines. It took me months to get it. When I finally got the PIN, I entered in the site and it took it. The withdrawal status then updated to pending withdrawal. I then waited for a couple of more days and the earnings were credited to my paypal account. The succeeding withdrawal request are also successful. You only have to deal with the PIN thing once and only during initial withdrawal.

    Work in the site are much lesser compared to before. If you are looking for a site for a stable and high income - Microworkers will not be the site for you. But, if you have spare time and you are into earning extra $5-$10 dollars a week then you can go and give it try. This site is legit and they pay.

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  25. I see that all but one of these comments are more than a few years old..Has anyone actually been paid by them in 2019??

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    Replies
    1. Still waiting on my money transfer. It's been a month already and nothing.

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  26. has anyone been paid in 2020.i had requested for withdrawal through transpay bank withdrawal and it has past 32 days and payment still not received.

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