Is lying on paid anonymous surveys fraud?

Question

Is it illegal to lie on anonymously paid market research surveys in the united states? What if you're making large amounts of money such as 10k+/ year by lying on these surveys? Would this be considered wire fraud or fraud of any kind? If so, what's the usual and most legal action a company can take towards you in this type of case?

Answer 1

It is not a crime, nor criminal fraud. It might be breach of contract, depending on the participation contract that you sign, and you might then be denied the compensation that would have been due to you. The survey company could declare that they believe that the participant breached the contract and lied, then the participant could sue for breach of contract, and to defend themselves, the company would have to prove that the responses were lies.

Answer 2

Although not theoretically impossible, it would be very unusual for A's lies to give rise to fraud. Each jurisdiction is different but generally, fraud has three major components:

1. A lies to B,
2. B relies on the information A gave it, and
3. as a result of that reliance, B suffers a loss.

In this case, 1 is true, but 2 and 3 would be very difficult to argue. Normally, B wouldn't make a decision based solely on one survey response - the whole point of a survey is to get many responses - so it would be difficult to prove reliance. (It might be different if A engaged in ballot-stuffing or induced other people to give the same lie, such that it affected the overall conclusion of the survey.) B would also have to show that its reliance was "reasonable", meaning a typical person in B's situation would also have relied on that information, and that its reliance led directly to the loss it suffered.

Answer 3

At the point where you are promised payment a contract is formed and you need to read the specifics of that contract to see whether lying would be fraud or not.

Example 1: Company is offering 10$ to single mothers to fill out their survey. You (male, no children) claim to be a single mother and fill out the survey. Your lying is fraud.

Example 2: Company is offering you 10$ for participating in their survey. Question one in the survey: how many cars do you own? You answer 17 (true answer 0). You lied but didn't commit any fraud. The contract was for participating in the survey which you did.