Macadam App Promises to Make Money by Walking, but It’s a Scam
The Macadam app has been reported as a scam or fraud by one of our followers. There are several applications that promise money or prizes for users who walk, and Macadam is one of these apps that promises money in exchange for completing tasks and taking steps.
To help our followers avoid wasting time with this application, we wanted to be the ones to test it, providing feedback to confirm whether the fraud alert was true or false.
We installed the Macadam app and conducted the test, but it was truly a failure because this application is a scam.
The Macadam app promises its users the allocation of points (or coins) that can be exchanged for money or product vouchers. These coins are earned by counting the steps the user takes during the day or by completing various tasks such as viewing ads, installing and playing games, making purchases through their links, inviting others to install the app, etc.
Macadam is being promoted through advertising channels and also by many individuals seeking to earn points by inviting people. However, in reality, no one can truly gain what the application promises.
After testing the application for 4 months with the aim of providing feedback based on personal experience, we want to caution users against installing or using this application called Macadam, as well as others from the same company. Based on our experience, we will outline the points we consider important to clarify for our audience.
Inconsistencies Detected in the Macadam Application:
1- Unfulfilled Promises
The application promises 500 coins or points for each referral, meaning for each person invited to install the application who uses the referrer’s code, they supposedly offer 1000 coins to the invited person and 500 coins to the referrer.
In reality, this process is not as straightforward. The person has to install the application, and only 500 coins are credited if the person who installed the app referred by us earns at least 1000 coins.
In our tests, we also observed that Macadam did not account for all referrals, negatively impacting the inviting person.
2- Incorrect Counting
The Macadam app promises 25 coins for every 2500 steps. However, if steps are not validated daily, they are not counted. Another misleading aspect is related to step counting; if we use a parallel step-counting application, we can see that Macadam counts fewer steps than the other application.
3- Initial Encouragement and Progressive Discrepancy
In the initial phase, Macadam offers users various tasks to earn coins daily. However, after a few weeks, the tasks are reduced to prevent users from accumulating too many points.
4- Illusion of Unattainable Payment
At the time of installing the Macadam app, it was possible to see that the withdrawal of €10 was available in exchange for 15,000 coins. After some time, the minimum value increased to €15 in exchange for 30,000 coins. Unsatisfied with this, as we approached the minimum withdrawal amount, they increased the minimum value to 200,000 coins for €100. In other words, every time we approach a minimum withdrawal goal, they change the minimum amount, increasing it to higher levels, making withdrawal impossible.
Moreover, considering that it is nearly impossible to earn more than 800 coins per day (and achieving 800 is already an accomplishment), it would take 250 days (more than 8 months) to reach the minimum amount for promised money withdrawal. During this period, it’s very likely that they have changed the values again or even that the app has disappeared.
5- Insecurity for the Device where the Application is Installed
They encourage the installation of games containing trojans and viruses that dangerously affect the devices used for installation. Macadam only cares about making money by promoting games from various companies, without filtering games for viruses or malware. Be cautious about this point because some games may be capable of stealing information from your phone or tablet.
6- Abnormally High Battery Consumption
After various tests, we found that this application causes unusually high battery consumption, so it is important to consider that it causes wear and extraordinary energy consumption.
7- Sharing of Personal Data with Third Parties
For the installation of the Macadam app, we used an email created solely for this purpose. A few weeks later, we started receiving advertising emails from other companies, indicating that they share our data with third parties, likely doing business with our data. We can affirm this because the email was only used for registration in the application, and the contents of the received emails come from different companies but are related to the advertised content in the application.
8- Understanding the Operation
We sought to understand how Macadam works and how they profit from the application. We concluded that it would be impossible for the owners of the application to pay the promised amounts and still make a profit. Therefore, we realized that we should not waste more time testing this application.
After analyzing Macadam, we bring this article based on our experience to provide genuine feedback. It is not our intention to defame the company or invent feedback based on rumors. Here, we are exposing the experience we had using it for about 4 months, and truth be told, we have nothing positive to say about this application.
Macadam takes advantage of users, constantly changes conditions, and ends up frustrating users who give up before making any profit. This helps us understand where their business lies.