The truth is that no free lunch is offered in this world. Yet people of all ages tend to become victims of different types of scams promising quick money. You should be aware of such schemes and try to avoid them. Perhaps you enjoy having a sustainable income but desire to become wealthy overnight. It is this desire that might prompt you to seek such a get-rich-quick scheme or golden side hustle opportunities.
Know what is being offered on the internet
The social media feed is filled with such schemes. You may come across a course that trains people to double their money quickly or offers tips to make money the easy way. Almost every platform promotes such get-rich-quick schemes. They might have different calls to action and words, but their pitch is the same. People, unfortunately, fall into such traps! Hence, technology adoption should be done with great care.
About Get-Rich-Quick schemes
It describes shady investments offering unrealistic returns in a short time. Such schemes manage to create the impression that users are being offered high returns with minimal risk and little time, effort, or skill. Advertisement is usually done through social media ads, cold calling, or spam emails.
Common examples of Get-Rich-Quick schemes
When the side hustle opportunity is concerned, you can see variations scamming people through persuasion. A few examples are given below:
1. Pump and dump/rug pull scheme:
The company creates hype around some worthless stocks, persuading potential customers to invest in the same. With the price increase, fraudsters dump stocks during their peak, thus scamming people. Cryptocurrency has experienced several such schemes. Often, schemers use messaging apps to convey pump signals enabling insiders to buy coins.
It boosts coin price thereby attracting more users eager to invest in a lucrative stock. At peak prices, insiders sell their coins while others lose their money. You should be aware of Scam Warning Signs to prevent getting scammed.
2. Advance Fee:
This scheme assures its victim to pay some money as an upfront fee and get huge returns. However, the investor never gets the assured amount. Once the fee is paid, the fraudster either requires the victim to pay more fees for obtaining the specified large amount or simply vanishes. Technology adoption has only enabled such fraudsters to take the online route to scam more people across the globe.
3. Ponzi scheme:
Money is collected in this scheme from new investors and paid to existing investors. Charles Ponzi is the person who first developed this scheme. He assured us to double the investor’s money in just 90 days period. Fraudsters assure investors of low-risk and high-reward ventures against their investments. You should look out for such Scam Warning Signs and stay away from it.
Such companies do not have any legitimate earnings. For the system to stay afloat, there is expected constant new money flow. If investors want to get their money back together, cash flow dries. The system simply collapses.
4. Pyramid scheme:
It is different from the Ponzi scheme and should not be confused with it. Members have to recruit new participants on behalf of the scheme to get paid. Everyone is paid a cut with growth in the membership pool. However, scheme sustainability is at stake with a stop in pyramid expansion. Downstream sales-generated profits are used to pay bonuses. But without legitimate sales, Sustainable Income is not possible.
Common lies on the side hustle opportunity
Many more get-rich-quick schemes are circulating in the global market. They all use similar tactics to dupe people. You should check out the Scam Warning Signs before you make any investment in such schemes. Common lies shared by fraudsters are investors can earn huge amounts including bonuses from their investments.
The second type is a ‘Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’ creating a sense of urgency among investors. The third is ‘become your boss’ which can be just an exaggerated marketing language.
