Earn Money by Receiving SMS? The Truth
45sThe hook introduces a seemingly too-good-to-be-true money-making app, immediately grabbing viewers' curiosity and skepticism.
โถ Play Clip"The title promises an honest review and delivers exactly that, with a balanced look at earnings and risks."
This video provides an honest review of SMS Profit, an app that claims to pay users for receiving text messages. The creator, who has tested online money-making methods since 2016, investigates the app's legitimacy, earnings potential, and risks, ultimately advising against using it due to low pay and security concerns.
SMS Profit is an app that pays users for receiving text messages. The concept is simple: install the app, keep it running, and earn per SMS received.
The app is available in all countries. Users install the app, register, add phone numbers, and keep it running in the background to receive SMS messages. It's Android-only, and users may need to ensure the app isn't closed by the system.
The FAQ claims that SMS providers and mobile network operators need to send test messages to foreign countries to verify delivery routes. This practice is real and used by legitimate platforms like TelQ, Teslium, and CM.com.
The creator could not find any named clients, audits, or verifiable connections to mobile network operators for SMS Profit, raising doubts about the legitimacy of their claims.
Users earn 2 cents per SMS, with an average of one SMS per day. The payout threshold is $15, payable via PayPal or USDT, but reaching it would take several months.
The app is only available as an APK, not on the Google Play Store, which increases security risks. The creator dislikes this and considers it not worth the low pay.
The app requires receive and read SMS permissions, potentially exposing bank passwords, 2FA codes, and account recovery codes. The app claims it only reads test message IDs, but this is unverified.
Users are encouraged to run multiple SIM cards or add several phone numbers, which is unusual for legitimate route testing platforms that typically discourage this.
Using consumer SIM cards for commercial message forwarding may violate carrier terms and could be considered fraud in some jurisdictions, even if the user is unaware.
The creator concludes that SMS Profit is not worth using due to the low earnings and significant security and legal risks. They recommend avoiding APK-based earning apps and suggest exploring other passive income opportunities.
What is the payout threshold for SMS Profit?
$15
03:56
How much does SMS Profit pay per text message?
2 cents
03:37
What are the payout options for SMS Profit?
PayPal or USDT
04:11
Why is the app's business model technically plausible?
SMS route testing is a real practice used by legitimate platforms like TelQ, Teslium, and CM.com.
01:25
What permissions does SMS Profit require that pose a risk?
Receive SMS and read SMS access, potentially exposing sensitive codes.
04:55
What is a potential legal risk for users of SMS Profit?
Using consumer SIM cards for commercial message forwarding may violate carrier terms and could be considered fraud in some jurisdictions.
06:10
No Verifiable Proof
The creator couldn't find any evidence of SMS Profit's claimed connections to telecom operators, which is a major red flag.
01:55SMS Permission Risk
The app's access to read all SMS messages could expose sensitive data like 2FA codes, highlighting a serious security concern.
04:55Legal Exposure
Users might unknowingly participate in fraudulent activity, which could have legal consequences in some jurisdictions.
06:10[00:00] If you search for easy ways to earn money online, you might have come across something called SMS Profit. It's an app that claims to pay you just for receiving text messages on your phone. So, the idea definitely sounds simple. You just need to install an app, keep it running, and then you
[00:14] get paid per SMS you receive. But, I have been testing ways to make money online since 2016, and I can tell you this one immediately raised some questions for me. So, I looked into it properly. And in this video, I will show you exactly how it works, what the earnings actually look like,
[00:29] and most importantly, some things about how this app works that I think everyone should know before installing it. So, let's start by going over who can join and what SMS Profit actually is. So,
[00:42] from what I've been able to see, it is an app you can join from all countries. And if you go to the FAQ section, just come here for example, it it doesn't really say that much. It says that you'll just receive SMS and then you will get paid. And if you then go to the FAQ section and read
[00:58] a little bit more, then you can see they explain a little bit more about why you can actually earn because it's always good to think about when you join an earning platform, is it a realistic way to earn? How is it a business model for the platform you're joining? Because if they cannot make money,
[01:11] then you will also not get paid. So they do explain a little bit more about that. The FAQ section explains that a lot of SMS providers and mobile network operators, they supposedly need to send SMS test messages to foreign countries to verify and ensure proper delivery of their
[01:25] SMS routes. And let me just clarify that SMS route testing is a real well doumented practice in the telecom industry and there are legitimate platforms like TelQ, Teslium and CM.com and more
[01:38] where they do use real consumer phones in multiple countries as test nodes to verify that messages actually deliver. So the explanation they give is definitely technically plausible. The problem is that SMS profit used this explanation but personally I have not been able to find any proof.
[01:55] I could not find any named clients. I could not find any audit. I could not find any verifiable connection to actually mobile network operators. If you've been able to find that, if you have looked into it yourself, please feel free to share below. I would love to hear, but I was not able
[02:09] to. And that's definitely something to keep in mind, but we will get back to more about that a little bit later. Let's now talk a little bit more about how it would work and how you would earn, how much, and all that. So, if you decide to do this, it is quite simple. You would just need to
[02:24] download the app and then you would of course need to register and then just keep it running in the background. You just need to make sure that it's actually running. It's only for Android devices and sometimes an Android device can close down an app that's just running in the background. So you
[02:37] would need to check on this and how it would then work is that basically see you just need to add your phone number. You can add more phone numbers and you can see some examples on it on the website and I will explain later why I do not show it on my own phone. So there is a good reason for this.
[02:54] But overall, that's just how basically it is. You would install it. You would add your phone numbers. You would start receiving these text messages as long as it is running in the background. And you can of message? You know that's how they explain it. I'm just telling you what they do. Then I will
[03:09] a little bit later talk about some of my concerns about this. But of course, if you do this, also make sure to check what your phone plan actually allows because maybe in some countries, for some plans, it's not free to receive foreign text messages and then of course it would not be worth
[03:24] that doesn't make sense. But you can register as many phone numbers as you want, but if a number is registered on several accounts, then you will both get banned. So keep that in mind. Also,
[03:37] how much will you then earn? Well, you will get, in general, 2 cents per text messages and once you have actually received the payment, you can delete the text message. You should not interact with it But overall, you should not expect to get more than one per day. They even say that in the FAQ
[03:56] section and in general, maybe one per day. So, of course, it will take a long time to earn. The payoff threshold is only $15, but with 2 cents per day potentially, you can still see that will still take several months to earn. And when you reach it, you can then get paid via PayPal or USDT. So,
[04:11] the payout options are definitely great options in my opinion. But let's now talk about why I personally do not use this after having looked into it when someone asked about it. And the reason for this is that I personally do not like apps that are only APK. And you can see that here
[04:27] they say up here, download APK. That means you need to install it manually. You cannot find it through the Google Play Store. And this can be risky and considering the extremely low pay, it's not worth it anyway in my opinion. But let's talk a little bit more about the potential risk.
[04:43] I'm not saying that this will for sure happen on SMS profit. This is a general thing to consider with installing APK earning apps and particularly apps where you supposedly can earn by receiving
[04:55] text messages. And there are a few important things you need to know. So first of all, the SMS permission risk in my opinion is quite serious. The app actually gets receive SMS and read SMS access. So that means that potentially it can read every SMS that arrives on your phone,
[05:10] including bank passwords, two factor authentication codes or account recovery codes. SMS profit claims that it only reads these test messages IDs. But again, it's not something
[05:22] I've been able to verify. I also am not saying that they will read it or anything. I'm just saying in general when you allow an app to get access to your text messages that is a risk and it is only through APK. So it is not something that have for example been checked by the Google
[05:38] Play Store or something like that. So the second thing to consider is that users are encouraged to run multiple SIM cards or add several phone numbers and in general I told earlier that this route testing that is a real practice but usually legitimate route testing platform they
[05:53] do not need this and usually they would encourage against it actually and they would only be with one phone number. So there definitely are some concerns there why they encourage this. What is it actually used for? So the third thing is the legal exposure for you as a user. Sometimes the carrier,
[06:10] the phone company, there are terms and services that typically prohibits using consumer SIM card for commercial message forwarding. And in some jurisdictions, receiving payment from potential
[06:22] fraudulent telecom activity. I'm not saying that here. Again, I'm talking general. I'm saying that sometimes SMS forwarding like this and things like that is used for fraud. And in general, if you participate in that, in some jurisdictions, that is seen as fraud or participating in fraud
[06:38] even if you do not know about it. Again, I'm not saying that this is what this is used for, but just sharing what you need to consider in general before using an earning opportunity like this. So, overall, SMS Profit app, I understand it's appealing. Personally, not one that I'll be
[06:55] using. I don't like installing an earning app via APK for the reason I just explained here. And when you then combine that with the very low earnings, it's just not worth it personally for me. If you the comments below. I always love hearing from you. Also, if you have any questions, anything,
[07:12] I make sure to reply to every comment. But I do have a list on my website of best passive income free and easy to start with, you will usually not earn a lot. But there are some where you can
[07:25] earn a little bit extra that I prefer instead. I will leave a link to that below. And in general, if you're just interested in side hustles to make some extra money, I also do have a list with more than 20 legit free side hustles on my website. I will leave a link to that below. And then here on
[07:38] the screen, I will also leave one of the best survey apps, so you can watch that next if you want to see more about great way to earn some extra money from your phone completely for free. So check that out next. And finally, if this video helped you, make sure to hit the like button. And
[07:51] don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel and hit the notification bell so you won't miss out next time I release a video with tips and tricks about different ways to make money online.
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