Is this TestingTime survey a Gift Aid scam?

sabbath180

Hi all,
Recently a friend recommended I sign up to one of those paid survey/market research companies where you periodically receive a survey and are paid a small amount of money for completing it (e.g. YouGov). This one was called TestingTime, and seems to be a legitimate business.

After completing the initial questionnaire I was presented with my first survey for which I would be paid £4 for completing. It's possible everyone gets this same survey when they sign up.

Anyway, this one took me to this page. I read the content there and the linked participant information, and to me this looks like a Gift Aid scam to illegally extract money from HMRC. I can't find any information about this XO cryptocurrency they talk about nor can I find any info about RMI Club, the charity they mention, plus the whole process seems unnecessarily convoluted. I have done a few surveys and research tests with different market research companies and this is unlike any other I've seen.

I raised my concerns to TestingTime and they just responded that they don't do the research or choose the research tools themselves, they just recruit, and that this could be a new product that is being tested before it goes live. It sounds like they haven't done any due diligence on it themselves and don't seem to care that it might be a gift aid scam.
What do you think? Is this a scam or would you say it's a legitimate survey?

Ectophile

It certainly looks like a tax refund scam.  And I can't find any club called "RMI Club" on the England/Wales or Scotland charities registrations.  They don't give any registration number in the document it linked.

And you end up with nothing at the end of it.

sabbath180

Thanks for your reply. I wonder how I can report this to HMRC? TestingTime don't seem to care.

Ectophile

See https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/report-fraud-to-hmrc