Love of money, the root of all evil

As the economy is getting worse, we all know that money are harder and harder to come by for people. Interestingly, with the current job market, more and more people are looking for "creative" ways to make money. Some people followed more legitimate ways, such as opening new business and such, but other people want to get rich quick by doing something almost unimaginable, cheating others.

Here is some new ways people make money by any means, starting from the ones least trustworthy:

1. Sell something free for money.
One of such example is a loan modification business. This type of "business" asks the struggling homeowners to pay in advance for their service. the fees usually range about $2500 to $5000. And it's not guaranteed either.
Interestingly, many people fell into this trap.
Many people don't know that the government had actually set up an organization to help struggling homeowners to modify their late loans. The organization is called HUD. And HUD actually had some HUD approved counselors who can guide you through the process at no cost or a very little cost. I realize knowledge is power, but I don't think you should abuse it to extort money from helpless people.

2. Sell lies
I recently stumbled into a website where someone who claimed that he can show you how to make money online. And I managed to find his "get rich quick idea" without paying, courtesy from one of his customers who posted the guide online. The concept is simple and can be true. You can sell anything which cost you nothing or close to nothing, and sell them for a small amount of money (say $1.50-$5.00) and basically instructed your buyer to do the same. Similar to the pyramid scheme.

3. Start a Ponzi business
Well, Ponzi business is nothing new but it's recently being under a lot of scrutiny in the media because of recent Madoff case. The basic of Ponzi is basically offering a high return rate for "investors." The money used to pay the "investors" is basically received from the new investors. It was a very good way to attract more investors since most people will claim hat they indeed receive a steady return. The question is: Will it last? You know the answer.

4. Start a chain letter to get money (another pyramid scheme)
I recently stumbled into this type of paid chain letters, its quite surprising because it has been around for a long time in many Asian countries. The concept of this chain letter is simple, the sender asks 10-20 people to send money to someone on the top of the pyramid. The sender's name can only start at the bottom of the pyramid if 10-20 of his friends sent money to the person on the top. They usually make sure that the person at the top of the pyramid is not the sender, just to make it sound more plausible, (the sender is usually on the bottom of the pyramid). They usually make up a success story such as making millions of dollars or having a great life without working.

Less obvious ways people make money by taking advantage of others' gullibility:
1. Recruit free sales people who only receive a small commission when they bring it client to sign up for high margin referral "businesses."
Examples of such high margin referral businesses are life insurance services (the boss can get pay to 40% commission on the dues paid, and the sales person only receive 5% of the commission), home modification business (the boss will make between $2500 to $5000 while paying you $200)

2. Make a networking chapter,
The way this works is you just send out invitation to all small businesses in the area you targeted. Invite them for a breakfast in a sit-down restaurant and tell them that they are cordially invited and that there is only one business can represent your own trade. Asked them to pay $500 a year and invite the other businesses they know. Yes, out of 20 people who showed up you may only get 5 of them joined your new chapter, but you already make $2500 and you probably spend less than $300 for the breakfast.
I really don't know if this is legit or not. True, some people can really expand their networking through this chapter, but isn't it too much to pay?

And many more.......