I came across BonusJunkies today and ended up joining to see what all the fuss was about.
It’s a new site that claims you can make $500 to $1,000 per day inviting friends to the platform.
Is it legit? BonusJunkies might look like a legit way to make money online, but it’s actually a long-running scam that was previously known as SurveyJunkies.
They claim to be a social influencer platform that pays you $15 to $25 per friend you refer, however nobody actually gets paid.
I know that’s a bold claim, and I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s the truth. And in this review, I’m going to show you why I believe this, so you can decide for yourself.
What Is BonusJunkies?
On the surface, BonusJunkies looks like an easy way to make $500 to $1,000 per day online, just by inviting people you know to join the platform.
It’s free, easy, and if you follow the steps it looks as though you’re earning money each time someone clicks on your referral link and joins!
But it’s all just a hoax. The real purpose behind BonusJunkies is to collect your personal information and sell it for a profit. That’s what this is really about.
How do I know?
Well, first of all, because BonusJunkies is basically just a clone of many other scam sites out there, some of which I’ve looked into. Like Kids Earn Cash and Notion Cash for example.
Both of which scammed that many people that the Better Business Bureau (BBB) released a warning about them, which you can read here. It’s actually pretty rare for the BBB to do that.
But when enough complaints roll in, the BBB takes notice.
The second reason is that I actually make money online by referring people to join sites and buy products. It’s called affiliate marketing, and because I understand how this process works, I know this is total BS.
Lastly, I know it’s a scam because the entire site is fake, from fake testimonials and income proof, to a totally (and provably) fake about page. At a glance it looks real, but when you look closer it’s easy to spot.
But I don’t expect you to just take my word for it.
So in the next section, I’ll go into more detail on these points and show you what happened after I joined, so you can make your own mind up.
How the BonusJunkies Scam Works
The main idea behind this system is to refer people you know to join the platform, in order to “earn” $15 a pop. And when you reach the $100 threshold, they say you get paid.
There’s also a “task wall” that supposedly pays you to complete tasks and there’s an option to create promotional posts on social media sites like Facebook and Youtube to earn more.
But none of this is legit.
Here’s how BonusJunkies (really) works:
- Getting started: You create your free account at bonusjunkies.co to get started.
- Inviting friends: You copy your referral link and share it with as many people as possible, to earn money when people join through you.
- Completing other tasks: Optionally, you complete other tasks to earn even more money.
- Getting paid: Once you’ve hit the $100 threshold, you provide a bunch of personal information to try to cash out, but you never get paid, and realize it’s a scam.
That about sums up how this scam works. But let’s take a closer look at each step so you know how it works in more detail and why the whole thing is bogus.
Getting Started
To get started, all you need to do is visit the bonusjunkies.co website and create your free account. And they even give you a $30 signup bonus to incentivize you to do so.
Getting started is a matter of putting your name and email into a form, and choosing a username and password:
Seems legit and easy enough, right?
Inviting Friends to Join With Your Referral Link
As soon as you create your account, you’ll land on a page that looks like this:
The most obvious thing to do to get started and begin earning money, is copy your referral link and share it somewhere online. Like within your Facebook account for example, and wait for someone to click your link.
If/when someone clicks on your link, you will see the “money” you’ve earned going up in your back office. Which goes up at the rate of $2 per click and $15 every time someone creates a free account through your referral link.
So far so good, seems like an easy way to earn.
Completing Other Tasks
This step is optional, but there is a bunch of tasks you can complete within the BonusJunkies members area. Which they call a “Task Wall”:
It depends on where you live as to which tasks show up. But basically what you’ll see is a bunch of offers you can complete from companies you’re familiar with.
Which at first might lead you to think it’s legit, but these companies are (almost certainly) unaware that BonusJunkies is using their name.
And these “tasks” are really just questionnaires you need to fill out for the chance to win prizes like a gift card, which never really amounts to anything.
Getting Paid (uh oh)
This is where most people figure out it’s a scam.
According to the website, all you need to do to get paid is meet the $100 payment threshold and then you can cash out via PayPal. And that payment normally only takes a day or two.
But that’s a big fat lie.
Because nobody ever gets paid. I know this because that has been the case for every one of these scam sites I’ve exposed over the years I’ve ran this blog.
They try to blame it on “fraud” by saying you cheated the system, or make some other BS excuse, but it’s just BS to hide the fact that they never intended to pay you to begin with.
This is exactly what happened with SurveyJunkies, the last version of this scam that was shut down before launching this version.
Here’s a screenshot of the SurveyJunkies website to show you that it’s virtually a clone:
Now here’s a video from someone who never got paid:
So to sum it up – you might think you’re making money, but nobody ever gets paid, which makes it a giant waste of time and effort. And as I will explain in a moment, there’s some risks involved in using the site.
Who’s Behind This Scam?
The “about” page of the BonusJunkies website is as fictitious as it gets. They make all kinds of claims about being “the #1 influencer platform” online and say they’ve won awards and so forth.
Which of course is total nonsense.
They also claim to have been in business since 2015:
BonusJunkies started in March 2015 in Amsterdam with the goal of making a network where influencers could promote for advertisers.
bonusjunkies.co/about
This is an easy lie to expose though, all you need to do is visit the WhoIs website and punch in the domain to see that it didn’t start until March 2020:
This also shows that they’ve registered the domain anonymously.
Which doesn’t make something a scam, but when you consider they don’t give you their name (anywhere) on the site and when you consider all the other red flags I’ve mentioned, it’s obvious they’re hiding who they are.
Nobody knows who’s really running this, or where they’re running it from. It could be a kid in a basement somewhere, a Nigerian scammer, or the guy up the road.
The sad part is you’re giving this person (or people) your personal information. Which is where the real cause for concern is and what I’ll be delving into now.
How Do These Scammers Benefit?
If you’ve read this far, it’s easy to see that this is a scam. So the next logical question is – how do these scammers benefit if it’s free to join?
And the answer is, these scammers benefit by sharing and selling your personal information with other scammers, who try to sell you stuff and/or attempt to use your information fraudulently.
That’s why scams like this exist.
Selling a list of emails, that is made up of people who want to make money online, is big business for scammers. So if you suddenly start getting a whole bunch of spam, you’ll know why!
And that’s a best case scenario though.
The real risk is if these people use your information, the information you give them to create your account and cash out, to commit identity theft. Or some form of fraud in connection with your information. This is the real danger in sites like this.
Are the Testimonials Real?
The “payment proofs” they provide on their site are not even worth talking about, they’re just a bunch of screenshots that they use on all these scam sites and have zero credibility.
But what about all the reviews on social media?
These are fake too. And the reason people are posting these fake reviews is because they’re incentived to do so.
How?
Well, inside the members area, there’s a bunch of pages set up to help you publish promotional posts and videos on social media sites. Like Instagram, Facebook and Youtube for example.
With YouTube promotions, they give you a pre-written video title and description to use, so that you can submit a generic (and essentially fake) positive review:
As you can see, the scammers behind this site are using unsuspecting people to promote the scam through fake video reviews.
And the sad part is, most of the people who post these videos probably don’t even know it’s a scam. All they can see is the money going up in their account and think (more like hope) it’s real.
Here’s some examples of these I found on YouTube by searching for BonusJunkies reviews:
I blanked out the usernames and faces of these people, because I don’t think it’s fair to draw attention to folks who probably don’t even know they’re posting a fake review to begin with.
I don’t blame them, I blame the scammers behind this.
And it’s not just Youtube either, social media sites are full of these fake reviews right now, because people want to promote this to earn money. Which is why these scams tend to get a lot of attention. And in some cases, go viral.
Conclusion
BonusJunkie is not a legitimate site, nor does it help you earn $500 to $1,000 per day, or any money for that matter. It’s a scam and one that will probably be forgotten in a few months time, and be replaced with a new version of the same scam.
Unfortunately, lots of people join sites like this because it’s free to get started and it looks like you’re earning real money. Which is also probably why so many people feel okay about inviting others to join.
But eventually the truth comes out, like it did with all the other versions of this scam and like it will for all the others that come after it.
The only question is whether or not you’ll play a part in spreading the scam by promoting it, or warn others not to join. Which is something only you can decide.
FAQ
What is BonusJunkie?
BonusJunkies claims you can make money by inviting people to join their site through your referral link, but it’s really about collecting and selling your personal information.
How does it work?
The main method of “earning” is to refer people to join BonusJunkies through your link, but you can also complete tasks and post promotional content on social media.
Is it legit?
No, BonusJunkies is not legitimate. It’s a scam and one that has been running for years under different names like SurveyJunkies, Notion Cash and Kids Earn Cash to name a few.
Who’s behind it?
The website does not disclose who’s behind this, and they registered the domain anonymously, so literally anyone could be behind this.
Can you make money with BonusJunkies?
No. BonusJunkies does not pay you what you are owed, it may look like you’re earning in the back office, but the whole thing is fake.
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