Is CashGopher.com A Scam?

Normally I hesitate to review something as new as CashGopher (launched Sept 1 2010) since I like to watch the progress of a new company and look for verified reports of people getting paid. I wait for the dust to settle before I jump on the bandwagon. But this was launched under the MyLot's umbrella, which is a company that I and many others have a lot of respect for. I have been using them as one of my multiple sources of income for several years now. As such I thought it only makes ‘cents' to review an offshoot of MyLot which is Cash Gopher.

In case you are new and have not had a chance to read my review on MyLot.com, It's basically like facebook. Except you get paid for going on to the site and jibber jabbering about all the stuff you do on Facebook. The money you earn isn't a lot but you already know I'm all about the mantra every penny counts.

In any event, with Cash Gopher they go a different direction. You do even less work to get paid. You download software to your computer that does two things. One, it replaces the ads you normally see with the ones from CashGopher system, and two while you are idle, it can use your system to track usage patterns. Advertisers go crazy over this information in these days of targeted advertising.

How much can you earn?

I have to be honest with you, you only get paid a couple of cents, the same payment level as you get for pay-per-click, like Hits4Pay and Clixsense for each of the ads they place on your site and from the data they collect. It will depend on a couple of things, your zip code would be one, Some parts of the country are the perfect demographic mix than others. It depends on how much you use the computer and how long you leave it idle, so it can do its thing. They say you can get paid anywhere from $1-$1000 a month. That is a pretty big range if you ask me, I guess it is meant to be reassuring. Either way, it sure covers all the bases.

The second way you earn money, and the most profitable of course, as with most of these sorts of programs, is with referrals. For one year, you earn 25% of any referrals income. As long as your referrals stick to it, and are earning something, you can build up your stash. I don't mind the push for referrals when you ALSO get some income from your personal use. I am an affiliate marketer and that is what a large portion of my income is, so that doesn't bother me in the least. These advertisers need numbers, they want the largest audience possible to expose their stuff to, and in the online world affiliates are the best and cheapest way to do that. So I will never criticize a company for using referrals as a money source.

How do you get paid?

You get paid via PayPal and only through Pay Pal which can be a good or bad thing for some people depending on your experience with them or where you live. Personally it's my preferred method. In any event, the payment threshold is only $10 which is an amount I can handle. I'd rather it be $2-$5, but $10 is a respectable amount. If you do not meet the threshold, it will carry over until you do.

But are people actually getting paid?

In theory this all sounds okay, but is it all too good to be true? Well, that is what I was trying to determine. Although MyLot has a pretty solid reputation, something isn't sitting right with me about this Cash Gopher opportunity. Apparently a lot of people on MyLot are discussing the same concerns. So let's dive into the issues with this opportunity.

Cons.

No Payment Proof as of yet.

This Cash Gopher thing started officially in September 2010, so now in early 2011, you would be in the 4th or 5th pay out cycle. But unfortunately we just do not have the proof of payment data that I normally like. I scoured the forums, and I saw neither proof nor complaints about not getting paid. Usually when that is a problem the complaints are loud and clear. I don't tell my friends to go to the new pizza joint down the street until I have test the delivery records out, and so I won't be telling you to try something out when I can't verify their payment records.

Limited Referral Program

It may have slipped by you, but did you notice that you only get credit for referrals for one year? So this is not something that once you get enough numbers going it turns into passive income. You will have to keep getting referrals each year to replace those that run out. I hate when companies do this. If I've introduced you to a referral, I should continue to make money from them. Strangely the parent company MyLot doesn't limit you to only the first year. So Lord knows why they decided to do it for Cash Gopher.

Big Brother

This is probably the biggest concern that needs addressed. I will do my best to translate computer mumbo jumbo into ideas that make sense. The big issue is this software that is in your computer. Many people feel it s big brother like but I can tell you software or no software, your surfing habits ares out there. Most websites use things called cookies to track you and no you can't eat them. But if you ever noticed that you're seeing the same type of ads on various sites that you're visiting it's usually because of some cookied embedded on your computer when you visit a site. It's not malicious. But whether you know it or not, you are being tracked. Installing this Cash Gopher software is just a further extension of that.

Now that being said, having something sitting on your computer that is monitoring your surfing habits could be a total turn off to some of you, I know it was for me.

Technical Issues

It's been argued that the software might affect the processing power of your machine which can slow it down significantly. Most of you are on windows machines and you don't need anymore things to slow it down. It does that on it's on. lol (You know it's true.)

The other technical concern is that the software used to change or take over the normal ads you would see on sites. To achieve this they have to use some of the same backdoor techniques as the nasty worms and viruses and malware does. That being said from what has been observed it doesn't do the malicious things that a virus does. But because it has similar behavior of a virus or malicious software your anti virus software will send you panic messages that horrible things could happen if you continue installing this, and that can be a problem. There are some geeks out there that have tested this thing out using a separate computer they have sitting around just for this sort of thing and frankly, they are still uncertain. They do not like some of the codes that are left and unsure about the legality of replacing ads. CashGold made some major updates and changes in October. But nonetheless people left and right seem to be cancelling their accounts due to major pop-up ad issues that not only slow thing down but can cause crashes.

Is there a verdict, is CashGopher.com a scam?

This should come as not surprise to you by now… But, with my wait and see philosophy in mind there are too many question marks for me at the moment to recommend this new opportunity, even if the parent company is MyLot. MyLot is proven and consistently pays. CashGopher is brand new, people haven't earned enough to get paid and they are still working out their software bugs which is why I don't like joining companies in beta which seems to be where Cash Gopher is even though they're officially live.

Bottom line is that whole thing with the software and replacing ads just doesn't sit well in my gut as I told you before. At least with companies like Clixsense or Hits4Pay, I control when I'm dealing with the ads. And at the end of the day, I just feel uncomfortable with the idea that this software may be running something while my computer is idle. What exactly is it using my computer resources for? Spamming people? I just don't know.

So basically there are just too many unknowns for me which is why I'm passing on it. But if it turns out to be a safe winner in a few months then great. But for now it's not up to snuff for me.

One more thing— A tidbit from me to you to keep in mind

When companies like myLot.com start something new, it usually an experiment, and an entirely separate business. We saw this awhile back with that Clicksense got GeoString started, and although we like Clicksense we did not like the GeoString. Folks then slam the parent company if their offshoot turns out to be a dud. I sort of understand this because you would think the parent company is actively involved with the new experiment company. But that's not always the case. Either way, my advice is to try to keep them separate.

Although I don't feel comfortable joining or recommending GeoString or Cash Gopher, I would still recommend their parent companies because they have proven to be legitimate and pay regularly. At the end of the day this all boils down to what I constantly preach on this blog. Do your research! Don't assume anything is safe or good because a parent company you trust is involved. Take the wait and see attitude I do with these new companies and you'll save yourself some heart ache and time.

With that said, we've already found an alternative (Peer Gomez) to this company that we will be reviewing shortly.

Well that's all I have folks. What are you thoughts about this company? Have you tried it out? Chime in below. Oh by the way, if you are looking for traditional "real work at home jobs" click here. You can also find my personal recommendations here.