Getting rich with just a few clicks on the net?

Dian Estey | Sun, 08/02/2009 12:36 PM | Headlines

I started receiving messages about “getting rich, quick and easy” a few months ago. First, it was a one-off random message from someone I hadn’t seen for a long time and then messages started coming more often and from more people – good friends and family members. I also started receiving the message in different ways: email, SMS, Facebook message, Facebook note, blackberry messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, and finally, in a more conventional way: a phone call.

The phone call pushed me to do more than just say no or ignore the message. I agreed to look into it while at the same time telling the caller I was not interested for two basic reasons: I do not have good business skills, and I don’t believe in getting rich quick and easy.
A quick click on the link brought me to a page wallpapered with dollar notes (I think this alone is a turn-off, but let’s not try to get personal with taste). I read the explanations written on it, which described a few simple steps I needed to action to embark on the journey to join the crème de la crème of society.

Buy some e-books for a couple of hundred thousand rupiah, and

Spread the word to as many people I know (or think I know).

Every time someone joins the business through my website (you get your own website with the dollar sign too when you join this business), I and as five other people in my chain receive a commission.

Knowing there are many skeptical people like me out there, the website continues with a note saying:

No one is going to loose out in this business. The last member will not loose out, because there is no such thing as a last member. The number of Internet users in Indonesia is currently increasing at an amazing rate of 6 million people per year. This means this business will go on for eternity.

This is not gambling because a product is being exchanged. (e-books on how to do business via the internet and your very own dollar sign clattered website).

You will receive email notifications for every transaction and activity in your account.

You can block people who are not transferring money to you to ensure your business is free of scams.

Now, I am not an economist or a genius of any sort, but a quick read through the note reminded me of the infamous Ponzi or Pyramid schemes that brought down many well-intentioned people including those who became victims of Wall Street’s Madoff. A few more clicks on Wikipedia will give you more details on these two schemes (Ponzi and Pyramid) and a coffee with your economics-savvy friend will surely give you more insight into these schemes than I can offer. However, what struck me the most was the idea that to become rich, you had to talk to someone close to you.

Call me a conservative fool in this department, but I don’t believe in getting anything without earning it.

A half hour of internet research on the two schemes also gave me thorough explanations on why these two schemes are not eternal. Nothing is eternal after all. And as mere mortals, I don’t think any of us should be too surprised about this, right? While it is true those who enter the scheme early will make money, the wider the pyramid is, the bigger the chances are of this pyramid falling apart. The fast growth rate of Indonesian Internet users cannot be used as a parameter for anything. While the idea of getting rich quickly is a tempting one in the midst of the global economic crisis, I am pretty certain there are more “conservative-fools” out there like me.

I have been holding myself back from saying anything or writing anything about this for some time now. But now, I am worried the pyramid is getting too wide for its own good already, as I am receiving more and more of these messages in more and more ways.

However, don’t trust me on this. Do your own research and decide for yourself.

For those who have been sending me messages about ways to get rich “quick and easy”, thank you for thinking about me, but I don’t mind eating street food and being called a fool when everyone around me is holding an account book with billions of rupiah in it.

— Dian Estey