Speak asia is just another internet chain income scheme, which are never sustainable and ultimately collapse when the chain cannot proceed beyond a certain limit. Speakasia is taking money in the name of subscription to an online newsletter for $220, so that if the online-survey scheme collapses, you cannot claim any fraud as you have not paid for the membership of the scheme but only for the newsletter, which the company can anyways keep sending as it costs nothing.
Speak Asia has failed to establish it actual source of earnings which it claims come from conducting surveys for companies requiring customer feedback. It is impossible to believe that any company would pay upto $25 for an online-survey from one customer. Further more why one would encourage same member to have multiple accounts (premium panel, sponsored sub-panel) to earn more commissions as the very purpose of conducting survey from different people is defeated.
The whole objective of the scheme appears to be to trap more and more members to keep increasing the money chain. My guess is that, the company is paying for the surveys from the money it is collecting as subscription ($220) and not from the money given to it by companies for conducting surveys. The chain keeps on increasing by members who in their greed for higher commission keep trapping un-suspecting simpletons to join the chain and shell out $220. Members are getting paid because their is a regular un-interrupted inflow of subscription amount. The payment for online-surveys shall stop (or shall be reduced drastically) once the chain stops, and their are very few new members joining the chain.
The above fact has also been accepted by SpeakAsia representatives in their press conference held in Mumbai on 16th May, 2011. A day earlier all companies named by SpeakAsia, viz., BATA, ICICI Bank, Nestle etc. have denied (thru their marketing heads) having any relationship with SpeakAsia at all. After this Speak Asia has admitted that no company has asked them to conduct these surveys and they have been conducting these surveys on their own. This also means they are not getting any income from other companies for these surveys. Therefore all the payments being made in the name of surveys is being done from the subscription amount collected from members only.
If the company would have been a genuine survey oriented company, it would not have asked for $ 220 as subscription for the e-newsletter. The other important feature is that the company is registered in Singapore which is safe haven for criminals and fraudsters, thereby protecting it from prosecution under Indian Law, if it is charged for fraud in India.
While getting paid for surveys is a real phenomenon, one should understand that it can offer you just a few bucks for your opinion sitting at home. You should not expect to earn a livelihood or get rich through this. Also a genuine survey company will never ask for membership fees. My experience tells that the most reputed and the largest survey companies which operate globally including India, pay you not more than Rs. 60 to Rs. 120 for each surveys. The most reputed survey company in the world are Avante Panel, Corp scan which operate thru a number of partner websites such as in.ipanelonline.com, corpscan.com, starpanel.startv.in, swapyourvoice.in etc. Further you get paid only when your background, income status, location etc. suits the requirement of each survey. Therefore you can assume that any company asking for membership fees or promising to pay more than Rs. 60 to 120 per survey, then it is a sure-shot fraud.
Join this scheme only if you are sure of creating a sustainable long chain of panelists (by convincing them or fooling them or trapping them) sponsored by you in the chain as this is the only source of income in this scheme. Be prepared to loose your $220 without shedding a tear, its a gamble.
Now that cases have been registered against this company in India, it will have to stop its business activity in India. The members who have very recently invested in this scheme will lose all their money. Indian Law does not permit any un-registered body to collect money from common people in India without approval for its business model from designated government agencies such as RBI/SEBI. In case Speak Asia fails to prove its source of income from external companies thru which it is claiming to pay its members, then they shall be prosecuted for cheating and fraud under Section 420 of Indian Penal Code. My advice is that try to recover your investment as early as possible before the company is made to close its business by law enforcement agencies.
After arrest of its COO in Mumbai, SpeakAsia has changed its business from online surveys to selling unbranded cheap Chinese electronic items under its own brand name YUG. This has been done to escape prosecution for defrauding lakhs of people for membership of online survey mechanism which never existed. It is giving desperate face saving advertisements in newspapers which will not stop the police from arresting the actual owners of the company hiding outside India.
There are many other companies who have been paying for online surveys without asking for membership fees such as ipanelonline.com. corpscan.com, surveyhead.com etc.