Are you someone who loves playing games to earn money.
But constantly finds themselves having there time cleaned out by app developers who promise lots of money.
Well let me tell you are not alone.
The idea of earning money through having fun on your phone, is something hard to turn down.
However for every genuine app that does pay.
The cold truth is that there are five that don’t.
Which honestly sucks if you happen to find the one that doesn’t has oppossed to do.
Now I can tell you I have been through it myself and guess what.
I didn’t even know I was being led on.
Until I found myself stuck on a certain balance.
Something like $9.99 of a $10 threshold.
It was only then that it ‘Clicked’.
I knew right then that I wasn’t getting paid with that game, so I threw it in the virtual recycle bin.
This spurred me to help people stay clear of these.
So in this guide I am going to take you through how to spot a fake money making game.
Table of Contents
1. Check Out Reviews and Ratings
The first easy trick you can use, is checking the reviews and ratings.
Its a great starting point.
However in some cases you may have to use other methods in tandem, to come up with a conclusion.
That is because alot of developers know how crucial reviews and ratings are to its sucesss.
Meaning they will often buy fake reviews, in order to swing any potential users into taking the plunge for there game.
So what I recommend is reading these and analyizing the way there written.
If they are mostly 5 star reviews, read them carefully to see if they are just a generic one.
Or an actual review that goes into detail to outline the pros that is specifc to that app.
Again this can be hard to do, so I would recommend combining these with other tips that I will talk about.
2. Early Access Mode
Now what do you think is better then buying comments for a game app?
Disabling them completely.
This is something that I have found almost all fake money making games to do.
Its a clever tactic, which stops anybody from writing any reviews on there game.
So lets say you stumbled across a fake game.
However didn’t realise it was one, until you were an hour or two into playing it.
You wouldn’t be able to write a review, has its in early access mode.
Therefore meaning no one will know about your awful experience of not getting paid.
The same also goes for those potential users, who want to know what there throwing themselves into.
As the early access mode, also keeps people in the unknown.
Which I can only imagine is what the developers want.
They want this to fuel your curiosity for the game and find out for yourself if it really is a goldmine of riches.
But often what happens is you just end up joining all the other frustrated users.
Who are not able to cash out or get paid.
Another thing to note about these early access games, is they will typcially have from 50 thousand installs.
All the way to in some cases 10 million.
Now think to yourself is it normal for a game to have so many users, but be completely shut off.
Right there is your answer!
3. Investigate The Developer
Luckily a lot of these fake money making games are easy to identify.
Why?
Because they do a horrible job of covering themselves up.
One area is the developer itself.
Now when you research the developers of your favourite games.
Lets say Fifa Football, you will get a ton of research of the creator of Fifa.
Which is a huge footballing game.
Or to throw another one out there that I played a lot as a kid ‘Clash Of Clans’.
Well that game is owned by SuperCell who are a massive game company in Finland.
However guess what.
If you type in the developer of one of these fake money games.
You unsurprisingly find nothing.
In fact when you type them into Google.
The search engine will actually think you have misspelt it half the time.
You probably haven’t.
But the reason for this, is there is not company.
It will typically just be a name within the app store.
Almost as if someone’s created an account and just uploaded a game.
It still blows my mind that these developers will get millions of installs.
With many of there users playing the games, trying to earn.
While knowing nothing about the company.
So if you are going to use a money making app or game, make sure to take just a few minutes to research the developer.
As that could save you hours.
4. Unrealistic Claims And Prizes
When I think back to the many claims and prizes from apps I have seen over the past few years, it does make me chuckle.
Not for the users who are playing them.
As these are spending alot of time trying there hardest to get what are bait prizes.
But some of these claims have been so insane, that makes you wonder what member of the games team thought it would be a good idea to put them in.
From brand new Audi R8’s too claiming you can become a millionaire in a week.
Its safe to say I have seen it all.
Thats what reviewing 300+ apps will do to you.
But the point is, if you see an app that is giving you unrealistic claims and prizes then its highly likely that they won’t pay.
Now if your unsure of where the line is.
Then let me help you break it down.
So most app developers of these fake games run on a business model of mostly ad earnings.
If they are saying things like ‘make $100 in 1 minute and get paid’ or get a ‘brand new iPhone in 24 hours’.
Then this is where you think, is the developer earning enough revenue to guarantee a prize like this.
If you then play that game and get that $100 without needing to do anything for it.
Well this is where it raises eyebrows, as from a business sense it makes no sense.
Factor in the 100’s of thousands if not millions of installs.
Then you really get to see, that there is far bigger picture.
5. Excessive Ads
A trick that will give you an instant feel or whether an app is out to pay you.
Or rather pay themselves is through there ads.
In 2023, ads are fairly normalised.
Almost all free games that don’t have in-app purchases have them in order to support themselves.
However since most fake money making games, don’t have a subscription model or purchases, they rely on ads.
But its the fake ones that lets say take this too a whole new level.
They will literally bombard you with them, which depending on the game you choose, could make it almost impossible to play.
For instance I just got finished reviewing a crossword game.
Now imagine for every word you get shown an ad.
How frustrating is that.
But this isn’t exactly the whole point.
The point is fake money making apps put loads of ads in your way because they want to earn as much from you as possible.
They will also strategize there apps completely around it.
Whether that be offering so many mini games, with a catch associated.
Or an ad at a second interval.
You can be sure that if a money making game has far too many ads, chances are its not all its made out to be.
6. Not Explaining What The Game Is
Something else I have picked up on my years of reviewing games, is fake games never explaining there game.
Here I am alluding to there promotional material, mostly there ads.
There seems to be a huge discrepancy between the legitimate ones and the fake ones.
To give you an example, Mistplay which is a very popular app that I recommend myself, has many ads promoting themselves.
In each of these they carefully explain what the app is about.
Showcasing the features and showing you how you can use it to earn money.
Quite crucially they don’t give you any earning expectations.
This is so important.
As this app in particular understands how there earnings varies depending on there users demographics.
Something I rate highly, and why I have no issues referring people to them.
However if you compare this to a fake money making app.
Then you get a completely different experience.
From the get go, they shove huge money earnings down your throat.
Without even talking about the game itself.
Its almost as if its a side thing, and that the app is just a secret money printer.
They simply take no care of there brand, there not bothered.
Whereas the legitimate ones actually care about what they offer, and there brand.
There in it to pay users for years.
While one is there to get the quick buck and exploit its users.
