how to make sure....?

By relying on recommendations from friends, unfortunately we have to find out about scams before we can warn others, but if you have worked with a site and got paid and you can then recommend it to others, only then do you know that the site pays out and is not a scam. I avoid scams by only signing up to sites that close friends have been paid, can't get a better recommendation than that!

These are two sites you can use to search for scams. http://www.beenpaid.com/index.php http://www.gptboycott.com/ If you want information about a site you will usually find it on those sites if there is any doubt it is not for real.

Yes, it is quite a problem,especially for a newbie. There were good advices given above. Perhaps a couple of tips more: there are some paid-to-read sites who are promising tens, hundreds or even thousands of $ for reading an e-mail. They will never pay. When you find a paying site or program, been paid couple of times and found positive information about this site on the net, you may find out, perhaps this webmaster has some other sites/programs too. They should be safe to join and earn.

One way is to see if they ask for money up front, especially large amounts. And remember, sometimes things don't work outr for you, dosn't mean they're actually a scam, it just means eitnher you're not doing something right or you are making some money, just not as much as they say you will. My personal experieces are first of all surveys. I joined survey scout which talked about making good money filling out surveys. I joined for a one time fee of about 30 dollars. I havn't made too much money but I did get a check for $40 dollars for doing one survey which got me myt money back. much later I did a focus group where I got a check for $75.00 for participating i a discussion group. Another way: If you see something, ask here on mylot. I'm sure someone will have had an experience with it.

you cant.