Is InboxDollars a Scam?

If you’re thinking of using InboxDollars, you need to know: Is InboxDollars a scam? 

Below, we explain whether InboxDollars is a scam and discuss some steps you can take to improve your safety when using this platform. 

What Is InboxDollars?

InboxDollars is a platform that rewards users for doing online tasks. 

Tasks can include taking surveys, playing games, uploading receipts from grocery shopping, referring friends, watching videos, reading emails, and using the InboxDollars search engine. 

InboxDollars is operated by Prodege, which also runs Swagbucks and MyPoints.

You can redeem your rewards through gift cards or PayPal.  

InboxDollars is similar to Apex Focus Group, Survey Junkie, and Survey World. 

Is InboxDollars a Scam?

No, InboxDollars is not a scam. It’s a legitimate rewards platform. 

Overall, third-party sites review InboxDollars positively. 

For example, Millennial Money gave InboxDollars a rating of 9.5 out of 10.0, DollarBreak gave it a rating of 3.2 out of 5.0, and SideHustles rated it 4.0 out of 5.0. 

SideHustles noted that the platform is completely free, offers a good sign-up bonus, and has varied tasks you can try out. It also provides ongoing rewards for friend referrals. 

On the other hand, it noted that it’s hard to qualify for surveys, tasks don’t always pay directly, and cashback rewards may be misleading. Additionally, it may take up to 30 days to receive your rewards after you have redeemed them. 

Pretty much all third-party review sites said that earning potential with InboxDollars is relatively low: 

• Clark.com said: “I spent 11 hours on the InboxDollars website during a three-day period. During that 11 hours, I earned $11.94 — or $1.09 an hour. That’s with the immediate $5 sign-up bonus I got factored in. I also earned a quick 50 cents by filling out an initial survey. From reading other reviews, that seems to be the standard experience. So if you take out those bonuses, I earned about 61 cents an hour.”
• FinanzeBuzz said: “Over the course of a few days, I earned $11.63 by consistently completing surveys, reading PaidEmails, playing Scratch & Win, and playing various games during my free time.”
• The Budget Diet said: “I made $10.50 after using the site for about 3 hours. Surveys were the main way I made money, and I think I could have earned more if I focused on some of the download and gaming offers.”

User reviews about InboxDollars are mixed:

• 4.1 out of 5.0 stars (from 47,268 reviews) on Trustpilot.
• 1.8 out of 5.0 stars (from 981 reviews) on PissedConsumer.
• 4.2 out of 5.0 stars (from 161,968 reviews) on Google Play.   

On online forums like Reddit, InboxDollars reviews are also mixed. 

One person said: “I’ve cashed out over 100$ on it. You just have to be consistent with logging into Inboxdollars every day.”

Another said: 

“This is how they get out of paying for surveys. Note that I did not violate any of their rules, but I wasted eight hours doing surveys: “After careful review, our Compliance Team has determined to close your InboxDollars account due to a suspected violation of our Terms of Use. With assistance and support from our survey partners, we identified one or more actions associated with your account that appear to violate our user conduct requirements. Such actions put the quality and integrity of our survey program, and that of our partners, at significant risk.”

In its terms of service, InboxDollars says that it can terminate your account at any time, especially for perceived “excessive support” or “non-typical” use. This means your rewards could be forfeited without compensation, even for vague or subjective violations.

InboxDollars also says it can change its reward expiration policies at any time, including rewards you’ve already earned (past), rewards you’re currently earning (present), and rewards you might earn in the future.

If your rewards expire under those policies, InboxDollars can remove them from your account with no compensation.

Accounts inactive for 12 months may be closed, and rewards may be lost.

One person said that qualifying for surveys is difficult, and you often end up having to answer very personal questions:

“The problem I have with Inbox surveys is that when you attempt to take a survey, more often than not you are asked several questions, many of them personal, and after answering all these questions, you are informed that you do not qualify for that survey.Questions are asked on your health, marital status, income, purchasing of specific products, and race. Often answering these questions take as long as the survey is estimated to take.” 

Security

We couldn’t find a lot of information about InboxDollars security.

In its privacy policy, InboxDollars states that it has security measures in place but does not specify what these measures are. 

Privacy 

InboxDollars explains the kind of data it collects, why, and with whom it shares it in its privacy policy. 

The company collects:

• Personal information, e.g., name, geo-location, credit card number, email, mailing address, and telephone number. 
• Non-personal information when you create an account, fill out surveys, join mailing lists, upload receipts, correspond with InboxDollars, enter contests, or provide information about yourself. 
• Browsing activity if you use optional browser extensions. 
• Device information, e.g., device type, unique device identifier (UDID), IP address, operating system, browser type, and usage information. 
• Precise geo-location or similar technology may be used to determine your location.
• Information from third parties. 

The company uses this information to operate and improve its services, provide you with its services, provide advertising and rewards opportunities, and for other marketing, administrative, operational, business, and commercial purposes.

InboxDollars also says that it may use and disclose non-personal information for any purpose that is consistent with applicable law and its Privacy Policy. 

Furthermore, your personal information and non-personal information can be used, combined with identifiers, and shared with others, including affiliates (i.e., companies owned or connected to Prodege) and trusted third parties (e.g., vendors, advertisers, and survey and research partners). 

InboxDollars may disclose your data for legal, safety, business, or marketing reasons.

It may sell or share identifiable and behavioral data, not just aggregated or anonymized data.

The company will retain your personal information for as long as you have an account with them and for an additional three years after you close your InboxDollars account. However, InboxDollars states that it may retain some data for a shorter or longer period. 

In its terms of service, InboxDollars notes that it may require an official ID (e.g., driver’s license, passport) at any time before releasing rewards. If you’re uncomfortable sharing sensitive documents, you might lose access to your account or rewards.

InboxDollars warns that parts of the site where you can publicly post things (e.g., comments, forum posts, etc.) are not private.

Your username, profile picture, earning milestones, and other motivational details may be shown publicly with your content. Even hidden information (such as location data embedded in a photo or file) may be collected and used. Once it’s public, others can see, use, or share it, and Prodege is not responsible for what happens after that.

By posting on InboxDollars, you give Prodege (the company that owns InboxDollars) to use your content (or parts of it) for their own data purposes. 

So, Should You Use InboxDollars?

Depends on your goals.

If you’re looking to make a small amount of money by doing online tasks like playing games and answering surveys, InboxDollars can be a good option.

However, its privacy policy isn’t great, so if you care about your privacy, we recommend avoiding this rewards platform. 

How to Use InboxDollars Safely and Privately 

• Create a dedicated email address. InboxDollars sends promotional emails and shares your email address with advertisers. Creating a separate email just for InboxDollars (or rewards sites) can help you keep your primary inbox free of spam and reduce your exposure in case of a data breach. 
• Limit what personal information you share. Only provide the minimum amount of personal information needed when creating an account and doing online tasks. 
• Don’t log in with social media. Linking social media accounts results in you sharing more personal data and cross-site tracking. Sign up for an InboxDollars account with your email instead. 
• Use tracking protection. The easiest way to do this is to use a privacy-focused browser or extension.  Don’t install the InboxDollars extension. If you do, InboxDollars will track your browsing activity. 
• Don’t share personal information in community features. As per InboxDollars’ privacy policy, anything you post in forums and other public areas can be seen by anyone and used by InboxDollars for their own data purposes. 
• Turn off location access. InboxDollars may share your real-time location for ads and offers. Turn off location access in app settings and/or your browser. 
• Opt out of data sales. Depending on where you reside, you may be able to opt out through the “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” link located in the footer of InboxDollars’ site.
• Cash out regularly. To avoid any issues, and contact customer service promptly if you encounter any problems. 
• Log into your account periodically. If you’re inactive for 12 months, your rewards may expire.