If you don't already have an Amazon account, head over to http://www.amazon.com/ and click on the "Sign In" link (at the top of the page). You'll be guided through the process of creating your account.
Next, go to http://www.mturk.com/ and sign in using the Amazon account that you just created. Note: make sure that your Amazon account has been activated by opening the confirmation email that was sent to your inbox. You'll have to do this for your new mTurk account as well.
Once you've set up your Amazon and mTurk accounts (you may also want to set up an Amazon Payments account at https://payments.amazon.com/), you're ready to start making money. mTurk is a subsidiary company of Amazon.com that pays users small amounts of money to do odd jobs (called HITs) that other users request. For example, you may be paid $0.10 to compare search results on Google or to find the UPC number of a certain product. Any money that you earn can either be spent on Amazon.com or deposited into a personal bank account. It must be noted that this is NOT a way to get rich quick; in fact, you probably won't get rich at all, but it is a way to make some pocket change. If you spend a bit of time each day doing odd jobs, eventually the cents add up to dollars and you can purchase something on Amazon, or withdraw the cash from your bank account.
Unfortunately, the payoff of mTurk is rather low compared to the time investment. This being the case, every penny is valuable and you won't want to waste a single cent on shipping: this is where Amazon Student comes in. If you're a university student (if you have a .edu email address) you qualify for free Amazon Prime treatment for one year (I think that this is annually renewable). Amazon Prime gives you 1-day shipping for 0nly $3.99 and 2-day shipping free on qualified items. All you have to do is go to http://www.amazon.com/gp/student/signup/info and click on the "Get started" button. You'll need to sign in using your Amazon account and provide a valid university email address (ends with .edu). Once you check your university inbox and confirm your student account, you're done! Welcome to the world of free shipping!
Now, it must be said again that this is NOT a way to make large amounts of money. If you're looking to do that, you'd be better off finding a real job and working 9 to 5. However, if you're a student looking for a little extra spending money (or for cheap movies), mTurk and Amazon Student are perfect for you. If you're not a student, you don't qualify for the free Amazon Prime treatment, but you can still make money on mTurk; however, if you're not a student, you probably have a job and you might as well not even bother with the whole thing!
Since both mTurk and Amazon Student are subsidiaries of Amazon.com, there is no danger of getting scammed. What have you got to lose? Give it a try!
