Is iWriter Legit? How This Website Scams Newbie Writers - ToughNickel - Money
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Is iWriter Legit? How This Website Scams Newbie Writers

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I used iWriter for a week trying to find ways to write articles online and turn a profit. This is my experience.

I tried iWriter but came to realize it's a scam.

I tried iWriter but came to realize it's a scam.

The Dream of Making Money Online

We would all like to make money online somehow. After all, it is easy, we do not have to leave home, and we can create a stress-free environment for ourselves. We know it is possible. After all, bloggers make money out of writing their articles. However, say you are not as inclined to write on a weekly basis about topics that interest you, but you still think you can write for a living.

You may want to start looking online for websites that pay article writers for their content. You might be discouraged to see that most of them ask that writers have some experience behind them (meaning that they can research the information before writing, add SEO elements to their content, know how to write in a specific domain, etc.). I understand this may sound disheartening to you. It did to me, too, in the beginning.

Despite this, you might see that some websites offer a free membership to write articles on their platform and earn a small sum of money. You don’t have to pay, and you can get paid? With tons of article options out there? Sounds heavenly.

Well, do not believe all that meets the eye because I decided to test out one such website, iWriter to be exact, and here is why I have found that it is a scam. Read more to find out why you should never use this website and learn from my mistakes.

reasons-why-iwriter-is-a-scam-website-for-newbie-article-writers

Registration Process

This part is perhaps the easiest one of them all. All you have to do is set up an account by giving out your email, creating a password and a username. Simple, right? Yes, I thought that as well. To be honest, I felt that it was too simple to be the truth, and it seems that I was right in the end.

So that is what I did. I created an account, I got my activation email, and then I was set to start writing articles. What more could I ask for?

Perks of the easy registration process:

  • Easy to do, you do not think about it
  • Takes minutes
  • It does not ask for your money or any other data; you can fill it in later

Beware that they like to have an add-on there which states just how many writers they have on this platform and how much they have earned since the website was up. Now, this is by no means illegal, but I find it to be a nasty tactic that lures people in by suggesting that they could be part of the group of people that have made that sum.

reasons-why-iwriter-is-a-scam-website-for-newbie-article-writers

Types of Articles

So, I was now a member. I did not want to set my PayPal account as of yet before I saw what exactly I was offered and what I could write. And thank the heavens that I decided not to do that since I would have regretted it later on. But I am getting ahead of myself.

I decided to go and see just how many clients wanted to write articles and what kind of content did they want. My heart almost beat out of my chest when I saw the large number of messages that were there. I thought I hit that jackpot that nobody ever found. Sounds familiar?

Well, my dreams soon crumbled. I sifted through the articles that were needed until I found one that I knew I could write. I clicked on “Write Article,” and I was hit by a message that stated this article was meant for “Elite members.” Slightly taken back, I decided to look again. Yes, the articles were in different categories.

The categories:

  • Standard (the only free ones)
  • Premium
  • Elite
  • Elite Plus

What do Elite, Elite Pro, and Premium have in common? Well, you have to pay a monthly membership to be able to access the articles in those categories. Not fair, I thought. But there is another way to be part of one of those “cool kids” clubs, as I liked to call them. You can keep writing standard articles and based on your rating you would slowly go up the ladder and become Premium, then from Premium to Elite and so on. You get the idea.

At this point, I began to understand that something was not really as it should be. But okay, I have experience, I can write good articles and in a professional tone. What could go wrong?

reasons-why-iwriter-is-a-scam-website-for-newbie-article-writers

Standard Category

Here is the problem. I went under the Standard category to see what my options were. Wanna know how many articles were there? None. None. The site states that the posts get taken down once the client has gotten what he or she wanted and that most clients prefer to target articles primarily for the Elite/Premium categories since there they can find better writers. But I was advised that I had to continually check the category since some clients post articles under the Standard category as well.

Fair enough. I decided to wait and check the page often for a week. Want to know what I found? The same spam article would pop up. The article was just a couple of weird letter combination words. So, nothing clear. When I decided to click the “Write Article” button under the post, it would always say that someone else was working on the article.

By this point, I was done. I wanted to delete the account and forget the experience since this was a dead end. Either the website was a scam or clients did not want to post their requests there anymore. But the story does not end here; we are only getting closer to the good part.

reasons-why-iwriter-is-a-scam-website-for-newbie-article-writers

Boot Camp

When I made the account, I decided to sift through its pages and see what it had to offer. They had what they call a boot camp for new writers. What does it mean? Let me spare you the pompous details. They ask for around $200. They will then give you an English test and based on the number of answers that you got right you would become either an Elite or a Premium member.

Does this type of request remind you of those classic “Pay me X amount of money, and I will send you my book on how I lost 100 pounds,” or “I am a Nigerian prince, and you are my long lost relative. I have found you, and I want to send you my inheritance, but I need a small sum of money to do this. Help me, and you will inherit all that I have” types of ads? Because I suddenly had a flashback.

What was worse? Three days after I made the account I got an email telling me all about this excellent boot camp opportunity. I would have deleted the account right then and there, but I wanted to wait until the one-week mark to make sure it was a complete scam.

Are You Making Money?

No, you are not. Unless you pay $200, magically get a 10 out of 10 on their test, and then miraculously start to write for clients that pay you for your articles. Which is about as likely as pigs flying, but what do I know. I certainly was not swayed by their promises.

How to Delete the Account

So, now that the week trial passed and I was done with the website, I decided to delete the account. I went under my Profile tab, looking for that “Cancel/Delete account” button. I had no luck finding it. So I decided to ask the internet for advice.

Sadly, I found one other person who asked for help with trying to delete his account and failing. His situation was worse than mine. Remember what I told you about not having added my PayPal information in the beginning? Well, this guy did. And he could not take it down. I don’t know about you, but I would not want my payment information to be up after I decided I want to stop using a website.

He also talked about his experience with the Client Support team. You can find more details here. Overall, they were completely unhelpful.

So, if I cannot delete my account, how can I get rid of it?

reasons-why-iwriter-is-a-scam-website-for-newbie-article-writers

How I Escaped

Let me teach you a trick. First of all, do not use an official email address on a new website, especially when you are testing it out as I did. But, if you did what I did, here is how you can fix the issue.

You can find so many websites which offer easy to get temporary email addresses. No registration process, no nothing. Perfect in this situation. I got a fake email address from there, I went to change my current email address on the account with the new one, responded to their confirmation email, changed my name on the profile with a very fake one, and that was it. I clicked “Save Changes”. I unsubscribed from their newsletter and logged out.

6 Tips to Avoid Online Scams

Here is a short list of what I learned from my experience with a scam website:

  1. Use a fake email address.
  2. Do not give out payment details at the start.
  3. Look online for reviews.
  4. Look online for ways to delete the account, if needed.
  5. Do not give them money to be able to make money.
  6. Do not use your real name; you never know if your account is permanent.

This article is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge. Content is for informational or entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in business, financial, legal, or technical matters.

Comments

Khloe on August 27, 2018:

Hahahaa this is nonsense.
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