Is respondent.io safe?

http://respondent.io/

Low RiskStatus

Coveragestrong3 of 4 applicable core capabilities

Verdict

Respondent.io operates a legitimate research-participant marketplace with reported customer-service friction.

Respondent.io is a digital service that matches researchers with paid study participants. The site shows standard security hygiene and no malware indicators, but user reports cite slow support responses and delays in tax-form delivery.

The platform appears legitimate for paid research studies, but participants should retain tax records and expect possible delays in support or documentation.

Read full analysis

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Saved site captureCaptured safely during this scan No antivirus detections across 92 engines

Calibrated safety spectrum

Where this site sits

Dangerous1–20
High Risk21–44
Moderate Risk45–69
Low Risk70–84
Safe85–100

The score combines saved evidence strength and analysis quality. Coverage is reported separately.

01 · Investigation Brief

Investigation Brief

What the site offers

The homepage promotes market-research recruitment across 150+ countries and invites visitors to sign up either as researchers or as paid participants.

Primary CTAs labeled “Start recruiting,” “Talk to sales,” and repeated “Sign up as a participant” buttons direct users into the platform’s paid workflow.

Reported operational issues

Participant reviews describe delays in receiving required 1099-NEC tax forms after the legal deadline and difficulty reaching live support through the site’s chat system.

The hosting IP shows a clean abuse-confidence score of 0/100, and no malware or phishing indicators were detected.

Why the score is 78

Participant reports missing 1099-NEC after legal deadline. Coverage remains separate so missing sources cannot be mistaken for clean results.

02 · Security Evidence

Security evidence

Collected signals and independent provider data for this URL.

Antivirus Engines

0/ 92

No detections

Saved result - stale

No detections across 92 engines

No antivirus engine in this saved scan raised an adverse result. This is one signal, not a guarantee.

Malicious: 0
Suspicious: 0
Total: 92

All 92 engine results

0xSI_f33d - unrated - Clean
Abusix - clean - Clean
Acronis - clean - Clean
ADMINUSLabs - clean - Clean
AILabs (MONITORAPP) - clean - Clean
AlienVault - clean - Clean
alphaMountain.ai - clean - Clean
AlphaSOC - unrated - Clean
Antiy-AVL - clean - Clean
ArcSight Threat Intelligence - unrated - Clean
AutoShun - unrated - Clean
Bfore.Ai PreCrime - unrated - Clean
BitDefender - clean - Clean
Bkav - unrated - Clean
BlockList - clean - Clean
Blueliv - clean - Clean
Certego - clean - Clean
ChainPatrol - unrated - Clean
Chong Lua Dao - unrated - Clean
CINS Army - clean - Clean
Cluster25 - unrated - Clean
CRDF - clean - Clean
Criminal IP - clean - Clean
CSIS Security Group - unrated - Clean
CTX AI - clean - Clean
Cyan - unrated - Clean
Cyble - clean - Clean
CyRadar - clean - Clean
desenmascara.me - clean - Clean
DNS8 - unrated - Clean
Dr.Web - clean - Clean
EmergingThreats - clean - Clean
Emsisoft - clean - Clean
Ermes - unrated - Clean
ESET - clean - Clean
ESTsecurity - clean - Clean
Forcepoint ThreatSeeker - clean - Clean
Fortinet - clean - Clean
Fortra - unrated - Clean
G-Data - clean - Clean
GCP Abuse Intelligence - unrated - Clean
Google Safe Browsing - clean - Clean
GreenSnow - clean - Clean
GreyNoise - unrated - Clean
Gridinsoft - unrated - Clean
Guardpot - unrated - Clean
Heimdal Security - clean - Clean
Hunt.io Intelligence - unrated - Clean
IPsum - clean - Clean
Juniper Networks - clean - Clean
K7AntiVirus - unrated - Clean
Kaspersky - clean - Clean
LevelBlue - clean - Clean
Lionic - clean - Clean
Lumu - unrated - Clean
Malwared - clean - Clean
MalwarePatrol - clean - Clean
MalwareURL - unrated - Clean
Mimecast - unrated - Clean
Netcraft - unrated - Clean
OpenPhish - clean - Clean
PhishFort - unrated - Clean
Phishing Database - clean - Clean
Phishtank - clean - Clean
PREBYTES - clean - Clean
PrecisionSec - unrated - Clean
Quick Heal - clean - Clean
Quttera - clean - Clean
Rising - clean - Clean
SafeToOpen - unrated - Clean
Sangfor - clean - Clean
Sansec eComscan - unrated - Clean
Scantitan - clean - Clean
SCUMWARE.org - clean - Clean
Seclookup - clean - Clean
Snort IP sample list - unrated - Clean
SOCRadar - unrated - Clean
Sophos - clean - Clean
StopForumSpam - clean - Clean
Sucuri SiteCheck - clean - Clean
ThreatHive - clean - Clean
URLhaus - clean - Clean
URLQuery - unrated - Clean
Viettel Threat Intelligence - clean - Clean
VIPRE - unrated - Clean
ViriBack - clean - Clean
VX Vault - clean - Clean
Webroot - clean - Clean
Xcitium Verdict Cloud - unrated - Clean
Yandex Safebrowsing - clean - Clean
ZeroCERT - clean - Clean
ZeroFox - unrated - Clean

Security Scans

Browser Threat Feed

Not flagged on major threat lists

Checked against the browser threat feeds available to this scan — no hit.

What we observed

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CAPTURED PAGE

respondent.io

What our review noticed on this page

14.3M+ verified participants, ready when you are.

Visual analysis

Visual context from the captured page

4.3M+ verified participants, ready when you are.

Context only

What the captured page showed

1 observation

01
4.3M+ verified participants, ready when you are.

03 · Investigation Story

Investigation story

The behavior, reputation, and operator evidence that explains how this site may affect a visitor.

What the site claims
Recruit Quality Participants for User Research | Respondent
What we observed
The page content was captured and checked alongside 92 antivirus results.
What independent research found
2 external findings were saved and compared with the page evidence.
What remains unverified
1 of the 4 applicable core capabilities did not complete, so those gaps remain visible in the coverage ledger.

What kind of site and risk is this?

Threat category

No threat category confirmed

Service and business model

Saas

Transaction

Observed behavior

No disruptive browser behavior saved

Evidence behind this classification

01Participant reports missing 1099-NEC after legal deadline.
02Hosting IP carries zero abuse reports.

Web research findings

Independent findings for respondent.io, including public complaints, named review sources, registration records, and look-alike-domain evidence. A missing result is shown as unverified, never converted into a clean bill of health.

Business registration

No public record found

Could not match the site to a registered company — common for small sites.

Clone check

No clone detected

The completed research found no supported clone indicator.

Typosquat check

No look-alike match

The completed research found no supported look-alike match.

Web mentions

2 scam reports

Scam reports (2)

Direct quotes from public scam databases, forums, and news.

Trustpilotopen
"I have been a research participant on Respondent.io for years and what I have experienced over the past several months is frankly unacceptable for any legitimate business.Respondent collected my W-9 for tax year 2025 -- a direct acknowledgment that they owed me a 1099-NEC. The legal deadline to furnish that form was January 31, 2026. It is now late March and I still do not have it."
Trustpilotopen
"It’s impossible to speak with a person in support, they claim their blue chat bubble has an option that says “send us a"

Reputation Sources

How this domain rates across independent threat-intelligence and blocklist providers.

Google Safe Browsing

Not listedCheck ↗

VirusTotal

Not listedCheck ↗

AbuseIPDB

Not listedCheck ↗

Also verify:Spamhaus ↗DNSBL / SURBL ↗PhishTank ↗

04 · Domain & Infrastructure

Domain & infrastructure

Timeline · identity · encryption · redirects · hosting

The plumbing behind the site — who registered it, how it’s encrypted, where it’s hosted, and where it links out. A valid certificate or a calm server doesn’t mean the business is honest — scam sites pass these checks too. Use this to corroborate the verdict, not to overturn it.

Infrastructure map

How the saved page connected to the wider web.

Domainrespondent.io
Redirects towww.respondent.io
Hosted byAmazon.com, Inc.

Contact Verification

Saved contact details can help identify the operator. Their presence supports traceability; it does not prove the business is trustworthy.

What We Found

No clear contact details on the page

Emails on site's domainNone

Phone numbersNone

Postal addressNot listed

Linked social profiles0

Signal Summary

Several contact red flags

No direct contact email found on the captured page.

Domain & Encryption

Encryption Certificate

StatusValid

ProtocolTLSv1.3

IssuerAmazon · Amazon RSA 2048 M01

ExpiresMar 17, 2027 (174d)

Self-signedNo

Hosting & Technology

HostingAmazon.com, Inc.

Server locationUS

Web servercloudflare

PopularityNot in popularity top list

Redirect Chain

Hops

Cross-domain

Lookalike

Punycode

1301http://respondent.io/
2301https://respondent.io/
3200https://www.respondent.io/

Server Reputation

Abuse Intelligence

Confidence score0%

Reports on file0

ISPAmazon.com, Inc.

Usage typeContent Delivery Network

05 · Evidence Ledger

Evidence ledger

Coverage, provenance, and source freshness remain separate so a missing check is never mistaken for a clean result.

Antiviruspartial
Browser threat feedcomplete
Page contentcomplete
Analysiscomplete
Visual evidencecomplete

Completed analysis

The conclusion is supported by the evidence saved with this report.

Technical threat

unknown

Malware, phishing, credential theft and hostile infrastructure.

No confirmed evidence in this dimension.

Operator / customer risk

suspicious

Complaints, withdrawals, business conduct and commercial traps.

Additional evidence review

Source coverage and freshness

Status shows whether usable evidence was saved; finding shows what that evidence observed.

Source coverage
Source	Result	Completion	Finding	Freshness
Antivirus	0 of 92 engines flagged	Limited	No saved finding	stale fallback · Sep 24, 2026
Browser protection	No browser threat-list match	Completed	No adverse finding	Not available
Page content	Page fetched · HTTP 200	Completed	No adverse finding	Not available
Visual evidence	1 visible observation saved with the page capture	Completed	No adverse finding	Not available
Independent research	2 independent findings were saved	Completed	Adverse	Not available

Antivirus: Result0 of 92 engines flagged; CompletionLimited; FindingNo saved finding; Freshnessstale fallback · Sep 24, 2026
Browser protection: ResultNo browser threat-list match; CompletionCompleted; FindingNo adverse finding; FreshnessNot available
Page content: ResultPage fetched · HTTP 200; CompletionCompleted; FindingNo adverse finding; FreshnessNot available
Visual evidence: Result1 visible observation saved with the page capture; CompletionCompleted; FindingNo adverse finding; FreshnessNot available
Independent research: Result2 independent findings were saved; CompletionCompleted; FindingAdverse; FreshnessNot available

06 · Your Next Move

Your next move

Verify before you trust

We couldn't gather enough signal for a confident verdict — tread carefully.

Find the company through independent channels
Search for the business on LinkedIn, an official registry (Companies House, OpenCorporates, SEC EDGAR), or via the brand's known social channels. If you can't trace a real entity, that itself is a red flag.
Never pay by crypto, gift card, or bank transfer
If the site forces an irreversible payment method, stop. Cards and PayPal give you chargeback protection — irreversible methods don't.
Ask the forum
Post the URL in the MalwareTips Scam Reports forum — experienced members often recognise patterns immediately.
Open

07 · Safety FAQ

Safety FAQ

Common questions, answered directly from the scan data above — so the answers reflect the saved verdict and evidence in this report.

Is respondent.io a scam or is it safe?

respondent.io has a Safety Score of 78/100 (Low Risk). The saved checks found no material threat, but the report did not meet every requirement for the highest Safe tier. Use normal caution and independently verify the operator before irreversible payments or unusually sensitive actions.

Is respondent.io safe to use?

respondent.io has a Safety Score of 78/100 (Low Risk). Analysis coverage is strong at 83%. Normal caution; verify sensitive actions.

Has respondent.io been flagged by antivirus engines?

No — all 92 antivirus and blocklist engines in our malware network currently report respondent.io as clean. That's a good sign, though antivirus coverage is only one of the many signals we weigh, and brand-new scam sites can appear clean before vendors catch up.

Is respondent.io on any phishing or malware blacklists?

No — respondent.io is not currently on the major browser blocklist feeds that Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge rely on. Note that blocklists can lag behind brand-new scam domains, so "not listed" is reassuring but not a guarantee on its own.

Does respondent.io have a valid SSL certificate?

Yes — respondent.io presents a valid TLSv1.3 certificate issued by Amazon · Amazon RSA 2048 M01, valid for another 174 days. Important caveat: SSL only encrypts the connection between you and the site — it does not verify who runs it. Almost all scam sites now have valid SSL too, so a padlock alone never means "safe".

Where is respondent.io hosted?

respondent.io resolves to an IP operated by Amazon.com, Inc. in US (Content Delivery Network). Hosting location alone doesn't make a site good or bad — but hosting that doesn't match a brand's claimed country, or that sits on networks known for abuse, is one of the many signals we weigh alongside the verdict above.

How often is the respondent.io report updated?

This report is a record of the scan run on September 24, 2026, and the verdict reflects that point in time. Scam sites change fast — they can go live, get flagged, or vanish within days — so if you believe something about respondent.io has changed, MalwareTips staff can run a fresh scan that re-checks every signal from scratch and republishes an updated verdict.

08 · Final Verdict

Final verdict

The saved conclusion, decisive evidence, and practical action in one final view.

Verdict score

78/100

Low Risk

Respondent.io operates a legitimate research-participant marketplace with reported customer-service friction.

Captured during this scan. Opening this report does not revisit the site.

Conclusion

Recommended actionThe platform appears legitimate for paid research studies, but participants should retain tax records and expect possible delays in support or documentation.

Continue toCommunity

09 · Community

Community

First-hand experiences add human context after the scanner has reached its conclusion.

Is respondent.io safe?

Respondent.io operates a legitimate research-participant marketplace with reported customer-service friction.

What the site offers

Reported operational issues

Why the score is 78

What the captured page showed

What the site claims

What we observed

What independent research found

What remains unverified

Technical threat

Operator / customer risk

Verify before you trust

Find the company through independent channels

Never pay by crypto, gift card, or bank transfer

Ask the forum

Respondent.io operates a legitimate research-participant marketplace with reported customer-service friction.

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