If it seems too good to be true...it will be!

There are lots of schemes for making money that actually do the opposite. These are those get rich quick schemes we hear so much about. They generally work by promising you great wealth for little effort – always a suspicious concept! Here is just a selection:

The Lottery (or ‘Lotto’)

In the years since it launched in 1994, the British Lottery has taken around £55 billion from us. Camelot, the company that runs it, has only paid back half this sum in prizes which makes it Britain’s worst gamble. So next time you’re tempted to take a fiver out of your purse to buy five lottery tickets, whip it out and set fire to it – that should give you an idea of what is really happening to your money.

The Euro Millions draw is even worse. Tickets cost €2 each and can be bought by anyone in the UK, France or Spain. Incredibly, though, the odds on you winning this jackpot are even worse than for the silly old Lotto. They’re 76,275,360 to one! You are more likely to die on your way to buy the ticket than you are to win!

Free lotteries

These are supposedly a legitimate, fair and harmless form of gambling. However, most are linked to other ‘gaming opportunities’ where money is taken from you and seldom seen again.

Only take part in these if you’re bored and you know they are entirely free – oh, and don’t use your real email address.

NEVER part with money to take part in online games, competitions or lotteries.

Gambling

“There are two times in a man’s life when he should not speculate: when he can’t afford it, and when he can,” said Mark Twain and he should know. He gained and lost fortunes in his time.

Gambling in whatever form is a mug’s game. Odds on winning anything from scratch cards to horses, the dogs, football etc are extremely bad. Always remember that, on the whole, gambling is a way of whisking your money away into a bookmaker’s pockets. It’s not a coincidence that companies dealing in gambling and casinos make very healthy profits on the whole. In fact, if you really want to make money from gambling the only sure-fire way is to set up a gambling operation yourself.

Be a ‘millionaire’ courses

These courses take different forms depending on what the current belief is about what makes money. At the moment it’s property so that’s what’s being plugged.

Any ads you see or hear for seminars on becoming a property millionaire within two years should be regarded with the same level of horror as the time-share craze of a few years back.

Most of the ‘trainee property developers’ come away at least £2,000 or more worse off, and that’s just from the fees they are conned into paying to learn these so-called secrets.

If you really want to make money out of property or shares or whatever, you can find out the ‘secrets’ yourself by doing a bit of research and simply asking around. You don’t need an expensive course to show you the ropes – you need that money to invest. 

Pyramid schemes

Pyramid schemes are treated with disgust and distain these days, but it’s not always been that way and somewhere out there, there’s someone likely to fall for its supposed simplicity.

Whatever the ‘product’ these schemes offer, they are mainly based on a chain letter. Statistically speaking it is impossible to reach the levels and amount of money they usually promise.

Working from home schemes

Advertisements for home-working schemes can normally be found on job sites targeting people in desperate need of work and money. They are often simply exploitative and should be avoided.

You can know that they are dodgy if they make you pay to get the work in the first place. Think about it - what kind of employment asks for your money, rather than paying you for the work you’ve done?

There is no good reason to send your money away in return for any start-up costs.

If you are tempted by an ad like this, visit the Adertising Standards Authority's site, to see if they are aware of the business and what they know about it.

There are genuine home-working jobs but many are bogus.

SMS and 09011 competitions

If you have a mobile phone you have probably had at least one irritating scam appear in your inbox. They’re normally an SMS telling you about a fabulous money-making scheme or a message waiting for you at a premium rate phone number or a hot babe waiting to hear from you on another premium rate phone number.

Competitions you can go in for just by using your mobile phone are also expensive and the odds on you winning anything are so remote you might as well stick the price of the call down the toilet. Giving your phone number to the company will also let them text spam you again.

All scratch card competitions should be binned immediately, particularly if you have to call a premium rate number to find out if you’ve won. Those are obvious scams.

Similarly TV competitions that ask you to call an 09011 number are largely a waste of money.The questions are kept laughably simple to guarantee a high callout – to make money on the premium-rate calls - so make sure you’re not one of the callers.