Opinion Outpost Froze my Account

[Adamator]

Hey all

First time posting today and sorry to say it's not for a happy reason. I found this site while researching an issue I've had happen today. Was hoping for some insight on what to expect.

I been a very active user of Opinion Outpost for about 2 years now. The gift cards I get from them are my main source of entertainment income and I enjoy the surveys. I have nearly $150 worth of points on my account and this morning I went to cash a small portion out and my account got locked all of a sudden. When I tried again to log in, I got "Your account has been frozen for data concerns."

I of course am pretty upset and been second guessing myself. Sometimes I do surveys rather fast, but it's just because I know how they work from doing them so long. I looked around the internet seeing if anyone else has had this problem and found reports of people having their accounts frozen for seemingly no reason as well. Some people get them back, and it looks like other never do.

Something caught my eye in a post elsewhere on here today where someone mentioned their account was frozen like mine because they tried to redeem on a different computer...which is exactly what I was doing! I usually redeem at home, but the attempt this morning happened to be on my work computer and that's when the account suspension happened.

I'm hoping this will end up being my issue, but am afraid I wont be that lucky. Has anyone else dealt with a similar situation and had it work out?

I did call this morning after it happened and they are looking into things. All I can do now is wait, which I hate.

Worst case scenario that they don't give me my account back, how can I at least fight for my points I had banked?

Thanks for your time.

[ksedwar]

Welcome to Survey Police.

Trying to cash out on an unknown computer may have been what put the block in place. One way they identify users is by IP number. The system may be set to block unknown IP's from cashing out. If you haven't done anything wrong then you shouldn't have anything to worry about. Wait for their response before worrying too much. OO is pretty good at communicating within a short time period.

The advice most of us give is to NEVER leave a lot money in your survey account. It's not protected like a bank account is. There many ways that you can simply loose everything in the account. Also I think that technically the money/rewards are not yours until you claim it.

[Adamator]

Thanks for the reply.

I didn't think much of leaving the points in my account. I wasn't buying anything so I just left them. If this is all resolved, I will be more prompt about cashing out, even if I don't need.

I don't feel I did anything wrong, but OO has always sort of been too good to be true for me, as I enjoy my rewards so much. Amazon has gotten A LOT of business from me! I just don't want my luck to run out. :/

I'll wait it out and see what happens.

[avemaria]

i'm not sure what it could be really.. i wasn't aware they had a 'checking' period for surveys.. once we finish the payment is rewarded.. in my time there i've never heard of them looking at what we actually do.. if you do something wrong you'll know it while you're doing the survey.. it'll flag you for being too fast or for data really out of bounds.. it's possible if you used paypal and changed the address from the initial one you had on file, this would trigger them to look into it..

and like the other person said.. put the money in your amazon account where no one can touch it.. never trust a survey company

[peach6]

Thanks for the reply.

I didn't think much of leaving the points in my account. I wasn't buying anything so I just left them. If this is all resolved, I will be more prompt about cashing out, even if I don't need.

I don't feel I did anything wrong, but OO has always sort of been too good to be true for me, as I enjoy my rewards so much. Amazon has gotten A LOT of business from me! I just don't want my luck to run out. :/

I'll wait it out and see what happens.

I had that happen a few years ago my computer broke and I knew it would be at least a month before I could get it fixed or a new one....I had quite a bit in OO,My Survey, and I Say I wanted to cash out since I could use the money SO I gave my daughter my passwords so she could cash me out using her computer.I had no problems except with OO they closed my account....I called them and they told me that wasn't allowed but they did go ahead and reinstated me so I would give them a call.

[JD]

Re: IP addresses. I have taken surveys when out of town and been rejected for some surveys. I cannot remember if it was OO or not. IP addresses can be/are geographic IIRC. Imagine in today's age that you may take a survey from a place other than your normal place. Boggles the mind. I understand security and hacked accounts but there are ways to verify who you say you are.

[ksedwar]

IP addresses can be/are geographic IIRC. Imagine in today's age that you may take a survey from a place other than your normal place. Boggles the mind. I understand security and hacked accounts but there are ways to verify who you say you are.

OO has recently optimized their website (the new look) to work better with mobile devices so that makes IP identification sort of pointless IMO. You can take surveys on a mobile network or public Wifi from anywhere. Mobile networks usually are not even the same company as your home ISP so the IP will change.

Also it seems like every time I do try to take a survey on my phone or tablet, and it's not very often, I get one that is interactive and can't be done on mobile browsers. That's frustrating!

I'm all for security checks. That is as long as they are reasonable. If your account is closed or flagged then it should automatically generate an email so you can either remove the block or confirm that someone is or is trying to steal your account. Closing or suspending an account with no warning isn't fair.

[Adamator]

I posted earlier but I must of not hit submit. I already called them yesterday so now I just gotta wait. I'll try to give them a few days.

I went back through my old emails and double checked that I had never redeems points at work before yesterday and every email I checked shows I redeemed at a time where I was definitely at home. So likely this is related to my trying to redeem points on my work computer. Hope so, anyway!

[rtsl35]

Let Opinion Outpost know what you said here, that you cashed out on a different computer.

Also, if you've recently (or for however long) been a member of their other two sites (I think it's opinion world and survey spot), then this CAN happen. This happened to me after I was a member of OO for a year and decided then, to join those sites. What's funny is, when I told OO about that I just joined those other sites, they said it shouldn't be a problem. But this isn't true for everyone because for me it was and some others it was, but not for everyone.

[Adamator]

Update: Account reactivated.

They didn't give an explanation but I suspect it was the whole different computer thing.

[1957horses]

Update: Account reactivated.

They didn't give an explanation but I suspect it was the whole different computer thing.

GOOD FOR YOU.................

[ksedwar]

Update: Account reactivated.

Great news!!!

[Adamator]

Lessons learned:

1. Don't redeem on another computer.

2. Don't horde points even if you aren't going to use them right away.

3. Don't panic.

[1957horses]

Lessons learned:

1. Don't redeem on another computer.

2. Don't horde points even if you aren't going to use them right away.

3. Don't panic.

You got it right................

[hofertennis]

I get blocked regularly from Opinion Outpost, Survey Spot and Opinion World. They are all the same. I had 2 email addresses for some of them. Also you get blocked out if you do surveys too fast. They have always opened up my account each time.