Wednesday 17 September 2014

How NOT To Make Money Online In Kenya

ways of making money online in kenya
Following my previous article titled “How To Make Money Online in Kenya”, I received quite a lot of emails from people inquiring about legitimate opportunities that exist online.

One fan sent me a link to a certain referral website asking if it was legit or not. Well, it didn’t take me long to note that the website was spam and so I advised him to stop using it immediately.

After this event, I sat down and thought, why not expose various ways how NOT to make money online? I hope this article will enlighten you so that you don’t end up making some of the mistakes that I, and other people, have made before.

How To Make Money Online in Kenya - 6 Precautions To Take

(1) Fake Referral Programs

how not to make money online in Kenya
In this case, you are requested to sign into a certain program e.g. monthlyyouth.com, once you sign-up you are given a unique referral link. You are then requested to urge as many of your friends to click on your link and you are paid after every click. 

From the best of my knowledge, these programs DON’T WORK…and you shouldn’t waste your time on them. The only referral programs that I can confidently say do work in Kenya include:




Note: In the three examples given above you are only paid after someone you refer signs-up and meets a certain criteria. Like for Travel Start affiliate program you are only paid after someone you refer books a flight or hotel either in Kenya or Internationally…NOT FOR CLICKS as it is the case with the fake programs.

(2) High Yield Investment Programs

online money ideas in Kenya
These are the types of programs whereby you are encouraged to invest certain sums of money to reap insanely huge amounts of interest. One example I remember very well is Bullish Trade. In BT (as we used to call it) one would invest a minimum of $25 (Ksh2500) to earn up to 2-5% interest rate per day. 

And then you would earn some more by referring your friends under your pyramid. Well, you know what, Bullish Trade collapsed and people lost millions of investments.


  • When the deal is too good, think twice
  • If the interest rate is too good to be true, then chances are that it is another pyramid scheme
  • Note that you can be sued for recruiting your friends into a pyramid scheme under Money Laundering charges in Law
  • Don’t rush to invest your money in any online service until you are sure it is 100% legit

(3) Services That Require You To Pay To Get A Job Or Quick Money 

How to make money online in Kenya

Avoid, and again I say avoid, looking for online work in websites that require you to make online payment so that they can reveal super-program that will teach you "how make money online in Kenya" in a magical way. If you must pay for anything only pay for localized training.


  • If you want to learn more about blogging – talk to me
  • If you want to learn more about online opportunities that work – talk to Walter Akolo
  • If you want to learn more about Video transcription – talk to Sheeroh Kiarie
  • If you want to learn more about affiliate marketing – take Mark Ling’s training


Here’s the trick; whenever you come across any money making program, always Google it. For instance you can Google “‘Website ABCD’+ review” if you want learn if it is real or not.

(4) Services That Require You To Provide Your Credit Card Number

make money online in Kenya

Be wary of websites that require you to provide them with your ATM card number…safe for PayPal, I would not recommend you give your credit card number to any other person. If you are going to buy anything online, make use of your Nakumatt Global or Nation Hela card.


  • If you give out your credit card number, someone can start surcharging money to your bank account without your consent
  • If you shop on a shady website, the product might never be delivered to you and you might pay dearly for any errors arising
  • Someone might use your credit information to steal your details and misrepresent you – this is called identity theft  

(5) Working For Someone Who Has Not kept Some Money In Escrow Account


Online scams in Kenya
If you are working on websites such as Freelancer.com where you have to place a bid to get some work, you might be tempted to work for a client who doesn’t keep some money in the Escrow account as a sign of assurance that he or she is ready to pay you once you have finished the job. 

Most clients who don’t want to keep some money in the system are probably fake, you will work for them and they’ll refuse to pay-up claiming that "Oooh, you delivered shoddy work"…"Ohhh you did not deliver on time" among other flimsy excuses.
  • Always ensure that the client has set some amount in your milestone/escrow account
  • Those using iwriter are partially protected from this loophole because a client cannot place an order without placing some money in the reserve

(6) Working For Clients Who Have Never Been Reviewed

Real Kenyans making money online

If for instance you are working on iwriter.com, you might come across a client who has 0% approval rating or one with 100% approval rating but 0 reviews…well, when you choose to work for such a client there’s 80% probability that you’ll not be paid.

  • I would recommend you only work for clients who have been reviewed and rated by at least 5 other people
  • Make sure you do a background check of the client before working for him
  • From my observation so far, 80% of new client accounts created nowadays belong to conmen.

Make sure you don’t get caught by any of the above-mentioned traps. If you want to learn "How to make money online in Kenya" here’s an article that can get you started. I would also welcome you to join my mailing list – where you will get premium advice that goes beyond what I provide through blog articles.   
http://www.blogkenyan.com/p/free-subscription.html
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