“How to get rich in 5 easy steps” and other scams to warn your family about
ChatGPT makes creating convincing scams easy. Help your loved ones to get more cautious
I originally wanted to write about the three characteristics that lead to high worker-income: Providing high value (e.g. doctors), having a good negotiation position due to supply/demand (e.g. senior software engineers), or providing value to a ton of people in parallel (e.g. writers and stars). Three characteristics that lead to a high salary.
However, when I was writing the title I remembered that I had multiple talks with relatives to show them that some pages / offers were scams. It’s apparently hard for several people to distinguish honest offers from scams.
Before ChatGPT, the language was often a tell. Bad quality means it’s not professional which means you cannot trust it. After ChatGPT, you have to look at other stuff.
No 1: Too Good to be True
If a product sounds to good to be true, it probably is a scam:
- “[Getting rich/loosing weight] in [X] easy steps” — why doesn’t do it everybody then?
- The promise of AI making you rich — a lot of companies are trying, but that doesn’t mean it works. Robo investors could be a gambling machine or just straight scam you.
No 2: Courses with Fluffy Goals
I’d be careful with many type of course. What is the qualification of that person? Do you really know that it’s true what they claim? But most importantly: What is the goal of the course?
You should be able to answer the question “What will I learn in this course?” before you start it.
I see those types often:
- “I’m rich and I will tell you how I became rich”: Maybe it’s just the type of course you’re about to pay for that made them rich. Maybe it’s inherited. It’s typically save to assume that career paths are hard to copy. Instead of paying hundreds of dollars for a course, I recommend to read books. It’s cheaper and likely has more content.
- Real estate investments: They might be legit, but first try figure out if you could even start with that. You have to have enough money to buy a house. And potentially even more as you might have bad luck with the first one.
- Stock trading: There are tons of free articles online and many books that don’t cost a lot. If you want to become good at it, an in-person course will not do it. You will need to continuously invest a lot of time.
No 3: Pyramid Schemes
If you have to find other people to buy and sell goods (e.g. vacuum cleaners) to get a share of their profits, it’s a pyramid scheme. They are illegal. For some reason some companies have managed to still do it. They call it “multi-level marketing” as if that makes it different.
Don’t participate in that.
No 4: Limited-Time Opportunities
Don’t let yourself be pushed for a decision. Fast decisions are often bad decision as you didn’t think properly about it and didn’t talk to the persons you typically would. Watch out when you read this:
- “Only 3 spots left!”
- “Offer expires tonight!”
- “Act now to lock in your spot!”
No 5: No-skill high-pay jobs
Another common scam preys on people looking for financial freedom or a better job. Fraudsters lure victims with offers of “guaranteed income” or “work from home and earn $10,000 a month with minimal effort.” These schemes often require you to pay upfront for training, tools, or access to their “system.”
It sounds like this:
- The job requires little to no skills or qualifications but promises unusually high pay.
- You’re asked to pay for the opportunity or provide personal details like your bank account information.
- The language is vague, e.g., “Be your own boss” or “Unlimited earnings potential.”
