Lies Damned Lies - The Get Rich Quick Scheme

Envelope stuffing schemes offers little in the way of money unless you can master processing vast quantities of envelopes. Due to the low pay, the number of units needed to sustain any type of income are so huge, it becomes an unrealistic goal.

Some schemes offer training courses in high-value areas such as property, estate auctions, coins and gems. These will require the purchase of educational material, which cost a great deal. The promise of the material is to give you inexpensive sources for your chosen field, which is usually out of date, inaccurate or sourced from free public resources or the internet.

Software programs, usually revolving around some sort of betting system like horse-racing, football and other types of gambling, are also heavily used by illicit schemes. You are promised winners for paying the severely high price for the software.

Health is another area that is exploited, with offers of miracle products that can cure, heal and make you more healthy. Of course, these products are "all natural" so don't need certificates.

Another popular scheme are the e-Books which details how you can get rich on eBay. These ask moderate amounts of money, but in reality offer nothing but a smaller bank balance.

Next on the agenda are Pyramid schemes, which generally do not have any pretense at offering a product. These schemes are recruitment based where money paid by newly recruited members fuels payouts to those higher up. Pyramid schemes are illegal in most countries.

Another is called the Matrix scheme, which is similar in concept to a Pyramid but offers some form of product. For you to move upwards to a higher level, and qualify for whatever the incentive is, a certain number of people must have purchased below you. As with a Pyramid, this type of scheme is unsustainable.

Possibly the most famous get-rich-quick scheme is the Ponzi scheme, a fraudulent investment opportunity. Regardless of any presentation, the schemes offer vast returns on initial investments. In reality, the payouts actually come from those being newly recruited. Ponzi Schemes are illegal in most countries.

Staying with the investing theme we also have the Forex scam, which duped the inexperienced trader that they can make big returns in the foreign exchange market. Forex scams come in various forms which include the selling of software, offering provision of managed accounts which are actually badly managed, as well as those relating back to Ponzi Schemes.

Chain letters also exist, referred to as the Make Money Fast letter. This is usually transmitted via email through being forwarded from person to person. This acts much like a social virus which can spread expotentially across the internet. This scheme will ask that a small amount of cash be sent to a list of people in the given list, remove the top name and add your own to the bottom. The theory is the same as a pyramid scheme where money flows from new recruits to upper levels.

Finally we come to the MLM, also known as Network Marketing. These schemes compensate promoters of direct selling companies for sales they themselves generate, plus the sales of those that they have recruited. Due to the sometimes complex makeup of MLM schemes, those that are perfectly legal are sometimes extremely difficult to distinguish from the illegal Pyramid or Ponzi scheme. It should be noted at this point that many illegal Pyramid and Ponzi scheme attempt to pass themselves off as a legal MLM. MLM is about sales, not recritment, so if a seemingly legal MLM makes a very big thing about recruiting new members, then be very wary indeed.