Yes! Many places will advertise this sort of survey based work as "free money" - but it's really not free.  You are working. Companies conduct surveys for market research - by telling them your opinions they can then adjust their advertising, products, or services to better meet the wants and needs of people and thus make more money themselves.

So you're not cheating anyone or getting 'free' money for doing nothing. You are working.

It just so happens to be that it's extremely easy AND valuable to companies. This combination means they'll pay people to do it.

 How much will you make? It depends. I've seen people make as little as 20$ and as much as 10,000$. It's all about how much time you put into it and what offers and services on these survey websites you take advantage of.

The person who was making 10,000$ a year was doing so because he was taking full advantage of Cash Crates referral system - recruiting nearly 9,000 members a year and earning a percentage of what they had made.