4 Get Rich Quick Schemes That Went Horribly Wrong
Written by
Choncé Maddox
Edited by
Zuri Anderson
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If there’s one thing people love, it’s a shortcut.
Whether it’s a new side hustle that promises easy money, or the next hot business opportunity spreading across social media some people have fallen for get rich quick schemes that have gone horribly wrong. And in a world where everyday costs feel like they’re climbing by the week, the temptation to jump into something that might help you “get ahead fast” can be strong.
But history shows us that some of the most popular get-rich-quick opportunities end up costing people way more than they ever hoped to gain. Below are four infamous examples along with what went wrong, the warning signs people missed, and the takeaway we can all hold onto when the next “can’t-miss” money idea comes around.
The BurnLounge Scheme: Turning Music Fans Into ‘Store Owners’
BurnLounge launched in the mid-2000s as a platform where people could buy their own “music store” online, sell digital tracks and supposedly earn big commissions. It sounded like an easy business: Make money selling music from your bedroom.
But then the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) shut BurnLounge down, calling it a pyramid scheme. The company made most of its money not from music sales, but from selling “store packages” to new recruits. The more people you recruited, the more money you could earn — which is a structure the FTC now flags as a major pyramid-scheme indicator.
If a “business opportunity” makes more money from recruitment fees than from selling an actual product or service, it’s a huge warning sign.Real businesses make money from real customers and not from stacking new participants underneath you. If you have to pay for the right to sell something, and the income depends on recruiting others to do the same, it’s usually best to walk away from that opportunity.
OneCoin: The ‘Next Big Cryptocurrency’ That Never Actually Existed
Around the mid-2010s, OneCoin swept across the globe as a “revolutionary cryptocurrency” that claimed it would outperform Bitcoin. Promoters hosted big events, sold pricey educational packages and promised that buying OneCoin “tokens” would make people unbelievably wealthy when the coin went public. It spread rapidly in the U.S. through multilevel marketing-style recruiting and aggressive online advertising.
The entire system was smoke and mirrors, though. OneCoin was never a real cryptocurrency. There was no blockchain, no mining operation and no way to independently verify anything. According to federal prosecutors, the company raised more than $4 billion worldwide before collapsing. Founder Ruja Ignatova (the “Cryptoqueen”) disappeared in 2017 and is still on the FBI’s Most Wanted list.
If a crypto project won’t clearly show its blockchain, has no public ledger, or relies heavily on “This is the next Bitcoin!” hype, it’s important to be cautious. Tech terms don’t equal transparency. Before investing in crypto, make sure the underlying technology actually exists and isn’t just part of a marketing pitch.
The Day Trading ‘Signal Groups’
In the last several years, especially during the pandemic, day trading exploded in popularity. Social media became filled with “gurus” running private Discord chats, Telegram channels or subscription groups offering “signals” that supposedly told people when to buy or sell stocks for guaranteed profits.
Some even sold expensive courses claiming you could turn a few hundred dollars into thousands within months. The problem is simple: Day trading is extremely hard, even for professionals.
According to the SEC and other studies, the overwhelming majority of day traders lose money consistently. Signal groups often give the illusion of certainty, but they can’t actually predict short-term market moves, and many “gurus” make more money selling memberships than trading themselves.
If someone guarantees profits, shows only winning trades or pressures you to “act fast before the market moves,” they’re selling hype and not real strategy. If day trading were easy, everyone would do it. Building wealth in the stock market still comes down to consistency, diversification and patience.
Susu/’Sou-Sou’ Scams: When a Cultural Tradition Gets Misused
If you’ve ever heard someone talk about joining a “sou-sou,” you might know it as a community-based savings circle. It’s a tradition rooted in West African and Caribbean cultures where a small, trusted group of people agree to contribute a set amount of money regularly, and each person takes a turn receiving the full pot. There’s no interest, no profit and no pressure. It was meant to be just a simple way for a close-knit group to help each other save.
But in recent years, especially during financially stressful times, scammers have flipped this tradition into something completely different. Instead of a small group of people you actually know, these newer “sou-sous” are often huge, loosely connected circles where you’re told you’ll get more money than you put in, as long as you recruit new members. That’s not a savings club, but more like a pyramid scheme.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, many of these fake sou-sous are also marketed as “blessing looms,” “gifting circles,” or “money boards.” They exploded during the pandemic as people looked for quick financial relief. And while the early participants might have gotten paid, the system collapsed as soon as new members slowed down and others weren’t getting paid anything.
At the end of the day, every scheme on this list has something in common: They played on people’s hopes. Whether it was a thriving new business, a hot new cryptocurrency or a “community savings circle,” each one dangled the idea that you could skip the hard parts of building wealth and jump right to the reward. And when life feels expensive or overwhelming, that promise can feel incredibly tempting.
But the truth is, real, lasting financial security rarely comes from shortcuts. It comes from understanding where your money is going, making steady progress toward your goals, and choosing opportunities that make sense even after you dig deeper.
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