You can't say they're not dedicated.

The Crash

"I made my money the old fashioned way...."

"🎵I got run over by a Lexuuusssss."

– _Ruby_Tuesday

Something To Write About

"Selling books about getting rich quick."

– StoissEd

"Buy my book for $40 dollars on how to get people to buy your book for $40."

– Con_Dinn_West

Marital Bli$$

"Marriage for money."

"You can marry in a minute what you can make in a lifetime."

– knottajotta

"Yeah a buddy actually offered me 30k once to 'marry' someone so they could easily immigrate over. After so much time you can just legally divorce and forget about it. The problem is that in the meantime immigration officers watch you like a hawk and you have to continually act like a real married couple. Stage photos, fake outings together. It really seemed like way more trouble than it's worth"

– Miramarr

Pays To Be Clever

"If you're clever you can make good money abusing trademark & patent laws."

"Real estate has a ton of dark corners for the ethically flexible, so long as you don't mind being compared to a vulture."

– answermethis0816

Pay To Be Audacious

"Run an Alpha Male Camp. Charge $10k for the week long stay."

– InspectorG-007

Getting On Wikipedia

"Being a paid shill on Wikipedia. I get paid between $200-$500 to create articles about people and organizations who want more publicity. Some people pay more than $1,000 to get a Wikipedia article."

"Edit: I do this with a website called Upwork. It helps to have knowledge of Wikipedia's policies so your paid activities look less suspicious."

– jaoo1

Persuasive salespeople and gullible customers make for the perfect combo.

Go Guru

"become a fake guru and sell courses about nothing."

– jooints

"I love how these gurus are constantly advertising on Facebook. 'My film business makes $6m per year, so do my $500 course and I’ll tell you how I did it!' A quick Google reveals they have a little office somewhere, no film or production credits to their name except maybe an advert or two from a few years back. It’s all utter make believe."

"And if you’re running a production company that makes $6m a year, why on earth are you travelling the world selling your snake oil so everyone else can do the same thing?"

"Sadly, always hundreds of comments from people excited to learn from a 'master.'"

– madjohnvane

The Witch Doctor

"I knew a guy who was a 'witch doctor.' He charged $25,000 to cast a spell to bring an ex-lover back to you. It never worked but there was nothing that could really be done for you as he had all these forms stating that be made no guarantees since the spirit world did what it did. He was very popular too, which I could never understand."

"I told my wife I'm going to stop practicing law and become a witch doctor as the hours and pay are much better. She vetoed that idea."

– crimsonlaw

Advancing Incentive

"in app purchases in children's games."

– fridayisblackforme

"Candy crush becoming rich off Facebook moms."

– Vagabond21

Praise Be

“'You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion.' ― L. Ron Hubbard (science fiction writer and founder of Scientology)"

– sudomatrix

All In The Marketing

"Selling cheap stuff like it's valuable without direct lying, only misleading, a** covered legally."

– Vlad_Dracul89

Taking Advantage Of The Naive

"Short term cash/payday loans."

"There is a commercial in my area for a short term loan place where they specifically say that a quick cash loan is the solution if all of your credit cards are maxed out. Preying on poor people with no financial skills."

– little_cock

Medical Scheme

"Buy patent rights to life saving medication and hike the price up sky high."

– Professional-Cry1633

The following are people who fell for what seemed like perfectly legit causes or plans.

A Royal Scheme

"Years ago when newspapers were more common, someone had a brilliant scheme. They had posted an advert that you could buy a portrait of the queen. It was cheap like f10,- so many people ordered. What they got in the end was a stamp send in the mail. Nothing illegal as it was indeed a portrait of our (then) queen."

– DeliriouslylySober

Viatical Settlements

"In the 80s there was a big boom in viatical settlements. Basically you pay someone to become the beneficiary of their life insurance policy. The assumption is they’ll die soon and you’ll get a big payout. They get the benefit of using the cash they’d never have been able to."

"A bunch of folks started buying up the policies from people with AIDS… and then the retroviral drugs hit the market and many of these people got paid millions and lived for many many more years."

– ThatPancreatitisGuy

Pet-Care Contracts

"My favorite is the person who (supposedly) sold pet-care 'contracts' that would kick in after the rapture, since many believers own pets and apparently pets won't be raptured."

"This person billed themselves as an atheist, so would remain behind and be available to care for the pets after their owners were gone."

"Legally, it couldn't be claimed that the rapture would not occur, so it was a valid agreement."

– NoMoreBeGrieved

Skewed Philanthropy

"Charities are only required to use a small portion of their donations towards the actual cause."

– RanmanGT1

People will do anything for money.

So make sure you don't fall for many of the manipulative schemes mentioned in the examples above.

Remember, if it sounds too good to be, it is.

And if you're making a king's ransom through unethical operations and are able to sleep at night, well, good on you, I guess.