A get-rich-quick scheme is a plan to obtain high rates of
return
Return may refer to:
In business, economics, and finance
* Return on investment (ROI), the financial gain after an expense.
* Rate of return, the financial term for the profit or loss derived from an investment
* Tax return, a blank document or t ...
for a small
investment
Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort.
In finance, the purpose of investing i ...
. The term "get rich quick" has been used to describe shady investments since at least the early 20th century.
Most schemes create an impression that participants can obtain this high rate of return with little
risk
In simple terms, risk is the possibility of something bad happening. Risk involves uncertainty about the effects/implications of an activity with respect to something that humans value (such as health, well-being, wealth, property or the environme ...
, and with little skill, effort, or time. Get-rich-quick schemes often assert that
wealth
Wealth is the abundance of Value (economics), valuable financial assets or property, physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for financial transaction, transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the ...
can be obtained by working at home. Legal and quasi-legal get-rich-quick schemes are frequently advertised on
infomercial
An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...
s and in magazines and newspapers. Illegal schemes or
scams
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have def ...
are often advertised through
spam
Spam may refer to:
* Spam (food), a canned pork meat product
* Spamming, unsolicited or undesired electronic messages
** Email spam, unsolicited, undesired, or illegal email messages
** Messaging spam, spam targeting users of instant messaging ( ...
or
cold calling
Cold calling is the solicitation of business from potential customers who have had no prior contact with the salesperson conducting the call. It is an attempt to convince potential customers to purchase either the salesperson's product or service ...
. Some forms of advertising for these schemes market books or
compact disc
The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...
s about getting rich quick rather than asking participants to invest directly in a concrete scheme.
Online schemes
Get-rich-quick schemes that operate entirely on the Internet usually promote "secret formulas" to
affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is a marketing arrangement in which affiliates receive a commission for each visit, signup or sale they generate for a merchant. This arrangement allows businesses to outsource part of the sales process. It is a form of p ...
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 individual could make hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars.
Lotto advice as get-rich-quick
Richard Lustig
Richard Lustig was an American man who came to prominence for winning relatively large prizes in seven state-sponsored lottery games from 1993 to 2010. His prizes totaled over $1 million. He wrote ''Learn How To Increase Your Chances of Winning the ...
, a seven-time lottery winner from the US, wrote a 2013 booklet explaining the methods to which he attributed his success which became a best-seller on Amazon.com.
Finance journalist
Felix Salmon
Felix Salmon (born 1972) is a financial journalist, formerly of ''Portfolio Magazine'' and ''Euromoney'' and a former finance blogger for Reuters, where he analyzed economic and occasionally social issues in addition to financial commentary. In Apr ...
characterized Lustig as "a get-rich-quick" hack.
NFTs and cryptocurrency
Since the growth in popularity of
non-fungible token
A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided, that is recorded in a blockchain, and that is used to certify authenticity and ownership. The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the b ...
s (NFTs) in the early 2020s, skeptics have accused many NFT projects of resembling get-rich-quick schemes.
See also
*
Envelope stuffing
A work-at-home scheme is a get-rich-quick scam in which a victim is lured by an offer to be employed at home, very often doing some simple task in a minimal amount of time with a large amount of income that far exceeds the market rate for the ...
*
Ripoff
A ripoff (or rip-off) is an unfavorable financial transaction. Usually it refers to an incident in which a person is overcharged for something, or receives goods or services not of the standard expected for the price. A ripoff is usually disting ...
*
HYIP
A high-yield investment program (HYIP) is a type of Ponzi scheme, an investment scam that promises unsustainably high return on investment by paying previous investors with the money invested by new investors.
Mechanics
Operators generally set ...
*
There ain't no such thing as a free lunch
"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch" (alternatively, "There is no such thing as a free lunch" or other variants) is a popular adage communicating the idea that it is impossible to get something for nothing. The acronyms TANSTAAFL, TINSTAA ...
*
Land banking
Land banking is the practice of aggregating parcels of land for future sale or development.
While in many countries ''land banking'' may refer to various private real estate investment schemes, in the United States it refers to the establishmen ...
* ''
The Secret''
References
Bibliography
*
Leila Schneps
Leila Schneps is an American mathematician and fiction writer at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique working in number theory. Schneps has written general audience math books and, under the pen name Catherine Shaw, has written mathe ...
and
Coralie Colmez
Coralie Colmez is a French author and tutor in mathematics and mathematics education.
Early life and career
Coralie Colmez is the daughter of mathematicians Pierre Colmez and Leila Schneps. Colmez was raised in Paris, France.
After completing ...
, ''
Math on trial. How numbers get used and abused in the courtroom'', Basic Books, 2013. . (Eighth chapter: "Math error number 8: underestimation. The case of Charles Ponzi: American dream, American scheme").
{{Scams and confidence tricks
Confidence tricks
Finance fraud
Ethically disputed business practices