That time I tried working on a VPN

 

 

Should You Use A VPN If You Work in Africa

It was December, and just as expected a lot of my friends and family living in the U.S were coming to spend the Christmas holiday in Kenya. One of them came with a VPN So that he could work virtually while he spent the month of December in Kenya. It was connected to my wireless router and suddenly my location showed as Washington D.C

I noticed that when I logged in to YouTube and other websites that were location-sensitive, my location showed up as Washington D.C and I had access to content that was not allowed in my country. Even news channels and websites showed content that I never saw with my location listed as Nairobi, Kenya.

Most importantly I noticed that I was getting a lot more gigs online. The websites that I was working on to do surveys and user testing suddenly had a lot of matches and I was busier than ever. I started considering getting a VPN from the U.S to boost my chances of more work online. I started shopping around for great VPNs and VPN websites that you would use as browsers.

Then all of a sudden after about three weeks on the VPN, I noticed a significant drop in survey invitations and random gigs online. One of the websites that I was working on for about three months sent me an e-mail telling me they noticed I was on a VPN and my earnings were considered invalid because I was masking my location. I only needed about $2 to cash out from this platform and now all my earnings were nullified. Another platform that I worked on in Europe also asked that I verify my location by phone. On that platform 68 Euros are stuck and I will not be able to continue testing until I go to the U.S and take another gig and cash out.

This is a cautionary tale with VPNs. It might cause more problems than it solves. I still think it's great to access content on YouTube and Netflix that is not available in your country, but I learned that I wanted to find legit work opportunities online that would allow me to work on their platforms no matter what my location is. I have lost jobs and money by working on a VPN so I wouldn't recommend it.

Do you currently use a VPN to mask your location and get more work opportunities online? Would you consider it? Comment below and let's share our experiences with this community.