Recently, I have come across a few advertisements for Speak Asia. A lot of friends have even asked me about this service. Some are even calling it a scam or a ponzi scheme. Other friends are swearing by the fact that Speak Asia is making payouts to people they know and hence is genuine.
A friend of mine, first brought to my notice the surveys as vague, as the questions were too easy to be considered useful for companies to actually pay for such surveys.
I decided to read up a little on this new website and check why so many people are suspicious about Speak Asia. I must admit, after a little digging around on Speak Asia’s website (speakasiaonline.com) even I am suspicious of their credentials, hence I decided to share my views with you.
#1. Registration with SpeakAsia
- There are 3 options to register as a panelist. The first option requires sending proof by email of income statement of over $1000 from one of the top 20 survey companies.
- The second option allows registering by taking a two-hour written test on English language, comprehension and general knowledge. They will be called to an exam centre in Mumbai or Singapore and charged $60 for the test. They will also have to pass a personal interview. Registration again is by sending them an email!
- Such stringent rules when it comes to selecting panelists for surveys might not be suspicious at all, except when compared to the 3rd option. The third option allows you to register as a Standard panelist for $120 or Premium panelist for $220. This money goes towards a e-zine subscription.
I wonder how subscribing to an e-zine for money is the same as going through a rigorous scanning process of interviews and tests.
#2. Payment for Subscription is not available online!
- I could not find any option to subscribe online or register online, unless I had a sponsor ID.
- That means I need to find someone who can refer me to the Speak Asia program. This means people are forced to register only through a referral. I do not think that is very convenient.
Note: People get extra payment if they bring in more people who register with Speak Asia.
#3. Payment structure from Speak Asia is vague
- Speak Asia allows payment of points based on reward points collected based on the surveys completed.
- The equivalent amount is transferred to the bank account of the panelists after 30 days from the date of taking the survey.
Unfortunately, as Speak Asia has no office in India, the best you can do is chase the person who recruited you as a panelist if you are having issues.
#4. No Physical presence in India
- I also searched for a physical address in India with Speak Asia website. There is no physical address available in India. The company is registered in Singapore and has no proof on its website of being registered in India.
- There is also no list of companies vouching for Speak Asia and also no company suggesting they use Speak Asia surveys for their market research needs.
This is strange and the best way to recognized as the real deal, would be to provide links and credentials of companies which are their clients when it comes to market research.
#5. Speak Asia agents arrested in Bangladesh
Two officials for Speak Asia were sent to jail in Chittagong, Bangladesh for fraud. The news way covered by Daily Sun, a Bangladeshi newspaper. Even if we assume Speak Asia has nothing to do with it, it still does not inspire confidence.
Why are there so many doubts on Speak Asia?
Most reputed survey companies will pay money for the work done towards the survey, which means payment will be made for the number of survey’s completed. The main legitimacy to Speak Asia as valid service, comes only in the form of prime time TV ads. Even Speak Asia shows up a schedule of their advertisements during IPL.
In my opinion if a company makes it difficult for you to register free and expects you to invest your own money to make money online, I will avoid it completely. Speak Asia seems to be raising more doubts that settling them.
What are your views on Speak Asia Online? Do drop in your comments.
53 Comments
Thanks Aditya, for your post clarifying a lot about SpeakAsia. A few of my friends keep on asking me frequently whether SpeakAsia is a Genuine Program or Scam. Now I have definite answers to reply them.
Anyway, I always sense things gimmick when they say easy money. Same goes with SpeakAsia. I can’t have faith in them even if they are making TV Commercials because I believe in the fact that Money and Life makes the biggest Rat Trap and Human is the easy rat who falls prey to these small cheese like TV advertisements.
Yes, just because of advertisements a lot of people think this is the real deal. But digging deeper shows that even registration to the website is quite difficult and dodgy.
When will people learn that money cant be made out of thin air without any business model ,that you shouldn’t fall for ponzi schemes
You are right, there is no easy money to be earned online.
am known to this frm last 6 months.. My friends approached me with this scheme 6 months ago , taking advice from me on this , after he approached , i did a little research about it that time , and i found that it was much popular in Bangladesh and people were getting paid..but when i read the concept of the surveys , that made me Suspicious..I ended up doing more research and found that its mostly a scam , though they will pay for some time to make it look genuine but then it will surely gonna scam people after a time , when people start investing Lacs with them..
Even i would advice , stay out of it..
Just came to know , many friends are already into it 🙁 .. i advised them to withdraw the money as soon as possible..bcoz as this news is all News Channels (Star News) and Online Articles(Many other sites) , the site may PAY the members to show its GENUINENESS..Same Advice to Other members too..
Yes, I feel it is advisable to stay away from such schemes completely.
O bhaio..why r u balmming such a company? I am also th e panelist of this company and regularly paid by filling surveys as wel as sponser income.
@Vaibhav: Yes, I have also written in the post that there are reports that people are making money of it. I am only pointing towards the fact that it does not seem to have a business model and also no physical presence in India, like an office.
@Aditya,What business model are you talking about? And what is the big deal about physical presence in India? Have we not seen hundreds of companies that had huge swanky offices here that suddenly vanished one fine day after collecting crores of Rs from people? Did the authorities go after them because they had a physical presence here, or did the people get back their money? In all such businesses, one takes a risk. If you feel they’re out to cheat, do not get into it, but do not, for heaven’s sake keep spreading un-necessary negative comments about an opportunity that has come as a boon to middle class people.
People who join this, do so with their eyes open, nobody puts a gun on their head and forces them to put in their ‘hard earned’ money.
When I invested in unit linked insurance policies, I was promised a minimum of 18 to 20% returns p.a, regardless of how the market behaves. My investments are with the co. now for more than 5 years and today my earnings show not more than 7 to 8% p.a! Can I call them fraud companies?
@Naina: Just because some companies with physical presence in India and business models have carried out scams in the past does not mean we should not write about companies that have dodgy credentials. Also almost all the points I raise, are based on the information (rather lack of ) provided by Speak Asia’s official website.
Yes we can’t say that all the companies may be fraud because many people are earning from good survey companies.
@Aditya you are true at your point.
i think every fast growing company suffers media .
I wouldn’t touch it with a bargepole
Hi,
This is the Kohie of Speak Asia, North India. I like your article in the sense that it argues quite effectively and I would like to take this opportunity to allay some questions raised.
I will take one point at a time and try to give a counter view for the same.
#1 – Registration With Speak Asia
Yes, we indeed have three options for people and acutely enough, one option does not equate to the other. There are two things to note over here:
1) We give advantage to people who have worked before in a survey company. Obviously enough, does not the corporate world do that? Giving advantage to those who have work ex?
2) Paying != Ability/Experience, how does money equate with someone of experience. – Firstly, we agree with your point that it does not equate at all but it is not meant to equate. These are two different dimensions been provided to people, we do not intend them to be equal at any point. Think for a second, consider, Nestle,an FMCG behemoth is selling products, whose opinion would they want? Obviously, the general people of India. We just provide them this general opinion. What is the problem with that. Besides, we also help or give Ids to those who have work ex. Why do you want these two to be equated, it is not intended that way on part of Speak Asia at any point. These are two different roads, not meant to be equal except of course, the destination.
#2 – Payment for Subscription is not available Online – Yes, it is available, but only to members from their own panel. See, can you buy a McDonalds burger online, you cannot. Are they a successful company based on their model – yes they are. We have our own business model and I do not understand why you cannot accept that. If we provided Credit card payment options to people, how would an MLM be set up? Think of it, who would join under his friends/pals etc, rather everyone would join via online medium which would in turn hurt the business and lead to a very slow growth and chaos. Providing online facility is anti to our business model whereas a franchise set up suits us much better. All our franchises pay service tax too. So overall we do not have that is because
a) It does not suit our business setup as we have opted for franchise business model which is a closer setup and words in a different manner.
b) Credit/Debit or other forms of payment would dwarf the growth of the company as the benefit to the people would be reduced to some extent. In fact, the binary concept of earning might become redundant if you think about that.
#3 – I have no idea why you find the system vague even though you put it quite easily. However, you can refer the link I posted with my name, search for Income Plan tab on top and read it kindly to understand it if you are facing a problem.
#4 – No Physical Presence
Pick up the legal documents of Singapore/India. Tell me if anywhere you find that physical presence is required. You yourself are running a Adsense sharing program, if you were based in Singapore, and you paid by Paypal, does that make you a scam? Associated Content, Constant Content, Demand Studios have no presence in India, are they a scam? Think again.
However, I agree, that if there are some legal issues which someone faces, they cannot get to us directly. This problem will be sorted out once we move to our next phase – ‘Product Selling In India’
#5 – Speak Asia Agents Arrested in Bangladesh – I wish you had quoted an Indian story. There were people arrested/maligned in Gorakhpur area where a local newspaper ran a story, after few days it was revealed that it was the franchise that was at fault and not the company. The same newspaper then ran a story praising speak Asia. The proof can been on the Internet where Scanned copies of the same are doing rounds.
So Many Doubts About Speak Asia?
Yes, there are but anything new has to face that phase at some point. Know Satyam, it did not have any doubts, but it cheated the people. What about those stories? They were white collared people. The thing is that, people will have apprehensions, if you cannot put 11,000 into such a beautiful business setup and need to think ten times before doing so, rest at home. If you have the vision, the desire to earn money, hop along!!
You can visit the website above and clarify more doubts. If you still have issues, I would be glad to help you around.
P.S. – About the Star News Story – We will contemplate action against the concerned authority within 72 hours. All our panelists have already been informed about the same. Thanks to them, we have got huge publicity, we only have to change the negative side to a positive side.
Ciao !!
it would be great if people like Kohie used their powers of logical and insightful thinking for the good of the nation.
In the same 72 hours, after Speakasia may or may not be indicted/ validated, i hope people with such sense join legitimate corporations and make a better and decent earning.
if they calculate what they could earn with their cerebral brilliance in a valid world, companies like S.A. would not have survived at all. *TWO surveys a week.. give me a break..!
IT is because such intelligent persons have been usurped by illigetimate companies.
All a matter of time.
P.S. Good job mr. Kane of maintaing such an erudite, if sparse, site.
just a small suggestion… an editor doesn’t have to, rather, should not remark on every reply he gets. That “reply” should be reserved for times when your integrity/ morality/ ethics gets attacked (not even questioned, cause that will happen frequently).
Once again great job.
Hi Dear Speaker,
Well good arguments but not all will be bought.I am from MR industry. Nobody buys panel surveys if one is not a qualified respondent. I hope you understand what I mean. I understand you have certain screening questionnaire in the beginning but there is no validation mechanism. It sounds like a disruptive model but it is not, because you give incentives to fill surveys regularly, which increases the chance of faking. No company buys fake information. MR is a little more complex than you think.
Start counting your days!
Bravo Kohie -The Speaker,
I am waiting to know about the actions you will be taking against the Star News Story.
I am myself aware of the Research & Analyst part as I am working as Business Strategist/Consultant. Its really interesting to study the working of your pattern, but at teh same time, I would suggest that you should be disclosing the names of the companies who are associated with for their research work.
I am keen to be a SpeakAsian….soon!
ALL THE BEST!!!
Ur First lie is caught ur distributer or franchises raided for tax invasion.
I have been trying to tell my sister not to indulge or promote this company.
she is an ethical person, so once she got conned, she did not get more customers. Now, she claims that she got her 33K back. (thro checks and cash)
fine. SO lets look at this situation.
They took my sisters 33k. she did some “work” for them.
they paid her 33k back after some months.
OK!. she got her money back.Yes she got HER money back.
Meanwhile they held similar 33Ks from somany customers.
ANd made money through investments, etc. WHAT ABOUT THE INTEREST ON THE 33K… they took it?
shes happy she got her 33 K back.. though no one including the elders in my family believe that.
but even if she got it back.. whats the big deal about getting your own money back after working for a company! .. comeon.. that 33k would earn more in an FD or stock market.
WHy cant people understand this very basic idea?
Hello again frendz. I earlier mentioned that I have been regularly paid by speakasia thirce. You know there is ONLY ONE REASON for not getting paid. First is you are not giving your every information correctly & second you are filling surveys in inappropriate manner. This warning is clearly mentioned in their website under FAQ’s. Another fact, speakasia has been launched since more than one year. Why not within one year the truth came in front of us like nowdays in news channel ? Let me explain you the reason. As you perhaps all know that just few days back Goa Gen X Bazaar had ran very very successfully. All the team leaders and top management authorities were present their only. At that time small jealous companies got sufficient time to misguide the people about speakasia. Because of such a mind blowing concept of speakasia, small small paying sites never exists. I am agree that the registration is high in speakasia & in these small Indian survey companies have very low fees to register, but my friends, you think, if you join speakasia today and you joined only one person under you in even 10th month,(I am assuming the worst condition ever of your extra effort,)you will start getting that sponsor income annually also. Where as in these company you will not get a single penny for your extra effort except once.
Yesterday I got a message from speakasia that some non successful people are spreading disturbing news, so stern & exemplary action will be taken within 72 hrs.
Wah…kya diplomacy hai…All u peoples are full…only to want to get back your money invested ic Such a fraud scheme…don’t force other peoples to invest their money…
Suraj
speak asia soon will be take an action about this matter. reality will see.
This is now diplomacy suarj. How can you say its a fraud? For just not having physical presense?
Other side I never saw such a complaint from any speakasian. Why from other LOOSERS MLM LEADERS, members of chain making plan to get paid?????? These foolish, rubbish & fraud statements are given by LOOSERS to disturb all. And ofcorse, the members of nowdays small HOUSEFILES (guess yourself) did not get the benefit just like speakasia, so they are frustrated and afraid to get left aloooone in earning handsome amount by this innovative, truly prooven online survey by speakasia.
Yes Nikesh, there will soon action be taken by them.
Do join SPEAKASIA my frendz without worry at all.
Well said Mr Vaibhav. But it will be better if Speak Asia clarifies all the points raised ,sooner. I personally have full faith in SPEAK ASIA.
Speak asia has already clarified all the the allegations raised against it. But it u who haven’t seen the video. Please see the press conference video to have all the clarification against the allegation on speak asia.
Here is the link
thre is no point provenby r stmt . the co also denying the survey than hw u rovbe it
Companies like these appear and disappear. Even after reading the comments, I feel that I wouldn’t be surprised if this whole thing shuts down in coming years.
u r absolutely right but tell how long speakasia run now.thanks
thanks for speakasians and other people for supporting. You said right Mr S.R Sharma. Although speakasia have no payment delays but I agree with you. They must have to upload some solid proofs of existinense. I hope Speakasia will do it very soon.
hyyee some positive and some negative its all over the world
its all up to us wetter to keep faith or teak mature decision about S A
many people have made money and many will make in future were there is many there is risk if you don’t have capacity of taking risk don’t give your opening keep it with you and no body will ask you in life you may feel you are intelligent by not getting involve
risk in life every place
you sit in home there will be risk ,
if you come out of home there will be risk ,
if you drive there is risk
if you don’t drive there is risk ,
if you fly there is risk
if you don’t there is risk
some body said it right were there is money there is risk ,
there is no easy way to earn money no body will give you free not even speak Asia
any way i am doing it and i have taken risk
if it come i will say my decision is right and if do-ant i will say find a option
but i will do this
thnx all of you for putting good effort and providing Free advise
hi anand its not the risk which will pay u in life its the calculated risk aur when the co.will run away who will u question to. just think over that my frnd ……dont teke shortcuts in life otherwise ur life will cut short
Thanks Anand. You know some people are thinking that ministry of railway is innocent & foolish that they had arranged a seperate train for speakasians to Goa..oops or might they people don’t even know about that special train.?
I think these people are even thinking that Govt. of Goa don’t know about Gen X Bazaar at their land in which about 200000 s/f land is occupied by speakasia. Wel what to say now…just leave it and watch what will happen in comming days.
@Vaibhav: Most comments here who support Speak Asia are there because people are making money which by itself does not prove anything. Most supporters of Speak Asia even call it a MLM company. Strange as nowhere on its official website does it admit to being a multi-level marketing company.
The post does not contest if people are being paid or not. But surely a company with revenues in millions, can provide a basic address. All the doubts I have raised in this post are based on the (lack) of information that was on SpeakAsia’s official website.
dear vaibhav, sab thik hai lekin s a. Survey kis co. Ka kar rahi hai?
ups n downs, ups n downs
well i juss wish we all retain our money been invested..
after that anything fraud or gunuine frm spkasia (we’ll welcum that)
I am agree with u Aditya. There is not updated information about it in speaksia official website. Hope soon it will be visible to everyone. I was just trying to say that all ministries are aware of it & people are getting their regular payments undoubtedly.
If anything was hidden first of all ministry of finance should raise the objection. isnt it? And after completing successfully one year, now some people are misguiding others. Even one channel also shown loots of disturbing things about this, but, never blamed in anyway, that speakasia is fraud.
I just saw a news about it. The company fails at many points.
Yes the company is making money by circulating the money of people.All survers are almost vague.Just think each member need to pay Rs. 11000 towards membership fee.Thereafter he receives back some part of it in the meantime he is also compelling his friends to join.In short he add another fools and company pays from our own money(same as other mlm companies).This is simple chain reaction in which company is gaining by providing fake surveys
@Bhasudibaaj. Dear friend, in the press conference, ye clear ho chuka hai ki company money circulate nahi kar rahi hai. It is a subscription and obviously every subscription has its cost. The good thing is that company is refunding your money within you trial period or u can say that it is your training about how to fill surveys. Initially speakasia had clearly said that they will not pay a single penny for wrong surveys, incomplete surveys and regarding your false information of all about.
Company has paid about 80 crore to the Indian Govt. as the officials said in press conference & they are accepting their drawbacks. But, according to their statement all the formalities shall be completed till May 30, 2011.
Company is paying us by which they are getting huge amount from other advertisements. And you perhaps know how much amount they are getting with advertisements.
Also it has been cleared that the surveys, they have taken of some big companies, they are non-commissioned surveys. It means they had no collaboration with them.
Ok. lets assume, why Amway charges much lesser amount form their only customers, if the market price is more than they offers? …. According to you Amway is going in a deep loss?…But No. There are some strategies, for every company & it is very harder to disclose it in public.Same you can assume in teleshope & your local newspaper advertisement. According to you their company will also avail a great loss??… But it is No.
My dear friends, opposition are watching each & every move of speakasia in star news. But I am asking now….1) where were those oppositors & the star tv when imagine tv was showing about speakasia??…2) What all oppositors & star tv were doing since 1 year? Were they deaf or blind since the company is running???…..Now suddenly they all blasted like a volcano & starting blamming about speakasia….3) If the star tv is such a seriuos channel then why should’nt they prooved fasle, the vedio of imagine tv, just after the next 2-3 days?
Speakasia is not a fraud, niether it is intended to run away with your money. It is simply offering a service or you can say a training to you form which you can be able to free from some of your expenditures.
The press conference again made tall statements without offering any proof. All the points you made about paying Rs 80 crore tax to govt, the management could not show any proof. There is no survey refered or printed in public domain which credits Speak Asia untill now. The point is simple for a company claiming to be worth almost $100 Million, they are not at all transparent and their website still shows neither proofs or adequate information to take it seriously.
main bas yahi kahunga ki jinke pas jitna dimag hota hai woh utni bate karta hai
jo apne pairo pe khade nahi rahe sakte woh resarch karke bata rahe hai ki kya huwa hai
august tak ruk ja mere bhai fir yahi milenge aur batana tera resarch kya kaheta hai ????????
Guys shackles of SpeakAsia started falling; There so called fraud distributer offices r raided & now their CEO don’t want to come on TV show to explain.
1)Basic question; who r ur clients? As CEO manoj already said sorry that their Marketing team used names of BATA;ICICI; AIRTEL but never told who r real customer.
well what i can say is nothing is sure !!!
and i am saying this after going thru all their links, press conference,comments on twitter, facebook etc.Till today speakasia has paid to all of their panelists….no doubt about it!!…but how long will they be able to continue it??
Now, after so much of listening frm speakasia top members….i am still not able to figure out one important thing which u people might have missed out…and that is Did speakasia take any stern and exemplary action against any media house which has tried to destroy their image as of today because they have said this in their so many sms’s and emails……if not why??(hope that all their facts, figures and balance sheets are correct)
it seems its a scam , it should not be followed blindly , people should not ask others to join , u only will lose face in front of people u know , if someone has joined its best first to recover your money invested then make profits and reinvest the profit money bse if u you get duped u would then lose the profits u had made not ur principle money so idea should be to recover princle amount and then keep on churning the profits to increase the new codes
this scam reminds me of hometrade scam, they too advertised big and roped in stars or went in for a huge splash of advertisement. after accumulating enough money, they might declare bankruptcy (becuase they can do it – they have a valid reason this time – they have planned it all really well. they are selling a “subscription” for Rs.11000! well done crooks@speakasia! bad for suckers who fell for their trap!
1. A very basic thing. When you register, you do not have to show any identity proof. So, you can easily fake your identity.
2. There is no mechanism to check whether you’ve entered honest answers or not. So, you get 500 rupees (i wont call it $10 because a dollar isn’t 50 rupees) even if you say that you’ve never used a browser in your life!
3. If I am a company, why will I give 500 bucks to an Indian/Bangladeshi? Even 50 bucks per survey can get me a large number of respondents.
4. The company is based in Singapore but has Indians on the board. Fishy. Very fishy.
5. Ever heard of a survey company partying in Goa?
6. Why haven’t they still lodged a case of defamation against Star News?
Well, all this comes from a person who has invested in Speak Asia and made money. But I have realised that its not the wisest investment I made. And I’ve told all my friends not to invest right now.
my friends put all savings in speak asia.but i think they choose short way to earn money its not good.
LoL speak asia must invested in people for commenting.
Doob Gayi SpeakAsia bhai Log.
One more thing the money speak asia gave to money in $ that too not in ur bank account but in Speak asia a/c if you want that money you have to request for that and money transfer take 2 month [ exchange in rs ] so its very large amount of people’s money is trapped.
Pathetic 🙁
Some of My Friends Have 5-5 Accounts On Speak Asia and Earn Rs 20,000 Per Month 😀
But I Think Company Will Cheat 😀
Increasing Scams through online is not good for Indian E-Commerce Industry. This will also hurts legitimate schemes. After the year 2009 only people coming to online and doing shopping and getting some more benefits.
Better Indian Government should create some “Standards for Websites”.
Pl. dont compare this with Amway. Amway is a company running for more than 50 years in US and 12 yrs in India & they have world quality products.
Great review ,Thanks It is a scam or will turn into scam!