In the month and a half since I wrote my article on how to make money with your credit card, I’ve noticed an extremely disturbing trend. Apparently Google picked up my article not long after it was written, and since then I’m receiving at least one visitor per day who is searching for ways to hack to make money. In fact, here are some of the common searches that I’ve noticed that reach me:
- make money hack
- hack money using credit card
- how to make money hacking
- how to hack and make money
- make money hacking
It may be my naiveity speaking, but I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to know that there are so many people that are so desperate for money that they must resort to this. I don’t know why I’m so bothered by this; maybe because I make my living with computers and I’m finding myself having to constantly defend myself against attack.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand the feeling of hopelessness and desperation in a low point financially. I’ve been broke or near-broke before and living paycheck-to-paycheck after a devastating job loss. But never once did the thought of abusing my knowledge and skills to illegally gain money even cross my mind. Yes, I would probably be able to use the data I have access to and my knowledge of computers to make a great deal of money, but that is not the way to do it. There are plenty of far more legitimate ways to make a living, even if it’s not as large a sum of money.
I don’t know if the people making these searches are desperate for money because of their life choices and circumstances or if they’re just greedy people looking to take what is not rightfully theirs, but it’s people like them that make my life and my job difficult. Honestly, I can imaging sinking so low as to resort to theft to cover my debts. The more I think about it, the more I pity the people who are reaching me through these searches.
I don’t what can be done for these people, if anything, but hopefully one or two of them stick around just long enough to see this message. If you have the skills to hack to make money, you certainly have the skills to make a living legitimately, too. Don’t succumb to the allure of “quick riches” through crime, because it certainly will come back around to you - either through the law or through other criminals. Instead, please be a productive member of society and do something to actually help the world and yourself instead of grasping at what isn’t yours.
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I don’t think the term “money hacking” means what you think it means. Lots of other bloggers use the term to mean hints or tips to overcome common pitfalls, get the most for your money when buying something, or make a little money legally for little effort, like by using credit card rewards or referral bonuses for opening a savings account.
I seriously doubt people are flocking to your blog hoping to learn how to steal/hack. (Relax)
Actually, you’d be surprised. These aren’t bloggers coming to visit. The people that come in by those search terms stay for less than 10 seconds on average, meaning they were only here looking for hacking methods.
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Here’s a look at the latest hacking-related searches, as logged by FeedBurner:
* make money hacking - 3 searches
* hack washing machine - 3
* How to make money hacking - 3
* how to hack to get money - 2
* hack to get money - 2
* how to hack a washing machine - 1
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As you can see, these are searches geared directly at illegal activities. I could only wish these were fellow bloggers, but that’s simply not the case.