Get-rich-quick scheme

A get-rich-quick scheme is a plan to obtain high rates of return for a small investment. The term "get rich quick" has been used to describe shady investments since at least the early 1900s.[1][2]

Most schemes promise that participants can obtain this high rate of return with little risk, and with little skill, effort, or time. Get rich quick schemes often assert that wealth can be obtained by working at home. Legal and quasi-legal get-rich-quick schemes are frequently advertised on infomercials and in magazines and newspapers. Illegal schemes or scams are often advertised through spam or cold calling. Some forms of advertising for these schemes market books or compact discs about getting rich quick rather than asking participants to invest directly in a concrete scheme.

It is clearly possible to get rich quickly if one is prepared to accept very high levels of risk – this is the premise of the gambling industry. However, gambling offers the near-certainty of completely losing the original stake over the long term, even if it offers regular wins along the way. Economic theory states that risk-free opportunities for profit are unstable because they will quickly be exploited by arbitrageurs.

Illegal

Online

Get-rich-quick schemes that operate entirely on the Internet usually promote "secret formulas" to affiliate marketing and affiliate advertising. The scheme will usually claim that it does not require any special IT or marketing skills and will provide an unrealistic timeframe in which the consumer could make hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars.

Schemes of this nature usually have catchy titles and images associated with wealth and luxury to encourage potential victims into paying signing up fees which can range from several dollars to thousands of dollars. The get-rich-quick scheme will heavily imply that the consumer will be able to earn much more than this small investment when they apply the special, secret techniques revealed in their training material they will send. Such training material is typically in the form of e-books or training CDs.

These schemes rarely work since the material sent to victims is frequently just basic or intermediate marketing material that is neither secret nor a guarantee to making a lot of money online. Often, the initial materials include heavy promotion of expensive seminars or classes, with the implication that not purchasing these items means the reader isn't "serious" or "ready to make money". Sometimes buying the materials subscribes the purchaser to a newsletter (or other communication) whose cost is automatically deducted from the bank account used to make the purchase each month; typically this condition is buried in the fine print, and cancelling the subscription is extremely difficult.

Get-rich-quick schemes of this nature habitually share the same warning indicators that include but are not limited to:

Another indicator is the manner in which the schemes are advertised. Many schemes will post so-called “success stories” on post-your-own-article websites.

Schemes of this nature will also be advertised through serial promoters. Serial promoters are individuals who are not directly associated with a given scheme, but will promote from one to the next almost every day. In return, the owner of the scheme may do the same for them, or if the get-rich-scheme is a Ponzi scheme, the serial promoters will be invited to join early in order for them to make money from new recruits.

An example of such products include the infamous Google scams, where the scheme will imply that viewers can make an income from home using affiliate advertising with Google, or simply posting links. These schemes have various titles and will trick the user into thinking they are endorsed or affiliated with Google Inc. through improper use of trademarks and logos.

Other popular online get-rich-quick schemes can include survey taking, whereby a user would complete surveys of varying subjects and get paid for the time. Get-rich-quick schemes take advantage of this and often promise that users can make a good income from doing this, which is not the case. Individuals who partake in survey taking can expect small profits that can supplement another full-time income.

A different tack is taken by online "Clairvoyants" who offer to untangle psychic or ethereal blocks to wealth, for a one off or ongoing fee. Each has a different pitch but buying lucky talismans, obtaining lucky numbers for lotteries, or performing wealth attracting rituals often feature. Several such "Mystics" under different aliases operate from Rambouillet near Paris.

The legality of such schemes is often a matter of extreme controversy. These online get-rich-quick schemes cannot be described as illegal outright scams since the majority do send an end product to the user, but they do employ severely misleading sales tactics in order to get victims to sign up. Users should always be aware when signing up for schemes online that promise to show the route to financial freedom, especially if there is an initial investment to be made.

Often online get-rich-quick schemes use a bait and switch strategy which invites you to view a particular offer (the bait) and then show you a completely different and frequently inferior product (the switch).

See also

References

  1. ↑ 'Get Rich Quick' Insurance from the Inside", The World's work, Volume 22, (1911)
  2. ↑ S.A. Nelson "The Blockite and the Get-Rich-Quick Man", Everybody's Magazine, vol 10, 1904.

Bibliography

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