Is Circumnews Legit? Real Reviews, Scams, Hoaxes and Fakes
Circumnews is a website that claims to pay big money for doing very little. Naturally, at first I was a bit skeptical. When a long-time fan, Brittany, suggested it, I started to investigate. Since we are the home of the Gimmie’s Big List of Fake Freebies to Avoid, and you know we investigate every offer before posting to keep you safe online, we checked this out.
Here’s what I’ve found.
Update 11/19: The website is still not working. They’ve updated payout now to $350, from $100 although it still says $100 throughout their site. I requested payout on 11/8 and have not yet received it. They said payout takes up to 14 days, so that would be 11/22.
Update 12/1: No sign of any payment that was requested on 11/8. The website is still not functioning properly. They claim to pay a lot for referrals, but referral links do not work (I guess that’s one way to avoid paying, don’t let anyone earn!)
The claim
Basically, Circumnews matches you up with current news. Their clients are news sites who want your attention and readership. In turn, they’ll pay you. You can earn between $2 and $5 for every news story you read. You can also refer friends and get $9 plus 10% of their daily earnings.
Singing up is easy. They ask for your email and a password (without going into the password lecture, it’s obvious you shouldn’t use a password you use everywhere else when you’re unfamiliar with any site. Right?). Just two fields and you’re ready to go.
Threshold: They pay every 7 days, when you reach $100. Because of payout schedule, it can take up to 14 days to get paid.
How it works: Go to Circumnews, sign up and click the story(ies) you want to read (example shown, right). Read the article. Then click “Confirm” and the amount noted will be deposited in your account.
Conclusion:
- Circumnews is a relatively new site that I just joined. I’ve seen similar sites that aren’t prepared for the onslaught of interest, and don’t have the capital to back it up. Basically, it’s pretty easy to do this, and not much time is needed to earn money. It seems too good to be true.
- Their website domain was created in October 2013
- Domain is registered to an address in Australia, but it’s only open to people in US and UK
- Scamvoid lists Circumnews as having a “bad online reputation”, and states the site has a low trustworthiness and vendor reliably score using the Web of Trust (WOB) trust system. Also, this website was only registered 29 days before the publication of this article, making it extremely new.
- Examiner.com says Even though Circumnews states this service is reserved for United States and United Kingdom residents only, the website is based overseas. Circumnews’ servers, ns1.reg.ru and ns2.reg.ru, are based near Kremenchuk, Ukraine, and Domain Tools lists the website’s domain as registered with an address in Nobby Beach, Queensland, Australia. The phone number associated with the domain registration, +45.36946676, uses a Danish telephone code, according to CountryCode.
Suggestions for a safe online experience – in any case (not just this one):
- NEVER use the same password you use for banking (Paypal, Payza, your bank, etc.)
- Get a secondary email address to use for questionable offers like this
- Don’t use your secondary “freebie” email for anything tied to a payment source (a site where you’ve entered your credit card, debit card, Paypal or Payza info)
- When in doubt, let someone like me try it out first!
Thanks Brittany!
Domain info for Circumnews.com
% By submitting a query to REG.RU Whois Service
% you agree to abide by the following terms of use:
% https://www.reg.ru/whois/servpol (in Russian)
% https://www.reg.com/whois/servpol (in English).
Domain name: circumnews.com
Name servers:
ns1.reg.ru
ns2.reg.ru
Registrar: Domain names registrar REG.RU LLC
Creation date: 2013.10.16
Expiration date: 2014.10.16
Registrant:
Domain Admin
Email: contact@privacyprotect.org
Organization: PrivacyProtect.org
Address: All Postal Mails Rejected, visit Privacyprotect.org
City: Nobby Beach
State: Queensland
ZIP: QLD 4218
Country: AU
Phone: +45.36946676
Administrative Contact:
Domain Admin
Email: contact@privacyprotect.org
Organization: PrivacyProtect.org
Address: All Postal Mails Rejected, visit Privacyprotect.org
City: Nobby Beach
State: Queensland
ZIP: QLD 4218
Country: AU
Phone: +45.36946676
Technical Contact:
Domain Admin
Email: contact@privacyprotect.org
Organization: PrivacyProtect.org
Address: All Postal Mails Rejected, visit Privacyprotect.org
City: Nobby Beach
State: Queensland
ZIP: QLD 4218
Country: AU
Phone: +45.36946676
Registrar: LLC “REGISTRAR OF DOMAIN NAMES REG.RU”
Whois Server: whois.reg.ru
Creation Date: 16-OCT-2013
Updated Date: 16-OCT-2013
Expiration Date: 16-OCT-2014
Nameserver: NS1.REG.RU
Nameserver: NS2.REG.RU