This fairytale is nothing but a scam

by Tony Levene on 28 April 2012  |  16 comments
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Rags to riches stories are compelling. But this one is just a way of separating you from your cash.

In real life, people who are down on their uppers – overloaded with debt, out of work, their savings exhausted, or simply not enough money coming in to meet commitments – often stay in their predicament.

But some can also focus on the bright side, make a substantial effort and work themselves back into a better place.

Short of the one in a million or more chance of scooping a big lottery win, the choice is between doing nothing, and so possibly seeing the financial situation worsen further, or working hard over a long period to improve matters a bit. Just ask any charity concerned with debt and poverty if you need proof.

Real-life fairytales

In fairytales, people who are down on their uppers – literally with holes in their shoes – find magical ways of making a fortune. They discover golden geese, marry a prince, chance upon the entrance to a cave full of jewellery, find a secretive rich person living in hovel – all the stuff of wish and fantasy. Often those who find wealth by sheer luck are punished for their greed. Fairytales have a moral purpose, after all.

So judge these extracts from a 24-page A4 booklet that bounced through my letterbox.

It shows a picture of a happy family. They say: “After years of struggle we are so happy now to be able to spend time as a family. And it's thanks to a system which has brought returns of £5,196.33 per week to us. Yet it only takes my husband and I a couple of hours a day to keep an eye on.”

“Jane”, who peppers the booklet with photos of her happy family and new car, explains: “Just four years ago and heavily in debt, we stumbled on a fantastic way of making money which was developed by a reclusive gentleman who used it himself to become a multi-millionaire. He taught it to us, passed it on, and within just seven weeks, my husband and I had banked £87,958.61. In fact, using it in our spare time from home, in the past four years we have already banked over £1,132,800.98.” I love the precision of the pennies which shows it must be genuine.

The figures show there was a serious slowdown after the first seven weeks. Had Jane and her husband kept that the original pace, they would now have more than £2.6m.

Maybe they relaxed.

From rags to riches

But whatever the numbers, I adore the fairytale, “deep in debt to riches” by finding a secret millionaire theme in this story. We can all fantasise about finding a reclusive millionaire, perhaps one hiding away in a small flat.

Jane says: “Quite simply, it's completely changed the life of our little family. Literally within a few months, we were able to pay off almost ALL our debts and credit cards and begin buying the things we wanted in life.”

It soon appears that the “reclusive millionaire” is not that reclusive. He took part in an unnamed and undated TV programme where he made £500,000 in “just SEVEN DAYS.” It must be true because it was witnessed by a national TV reporter (unnamed) and the figures are 100% VERIFIABLE thanks to “professional accountants”. I've met amateur tennis players but never amateur accountants – it's not a fun job so I always assume they are professional. They are not named.

And so it goes on. They were “fed up with bosses”, tried “business opportunities and franchises”, working really hard but “our personal debts spiralled to over £40,000.00.” Then “we were forced to close the business down, sell our house and move out.”

She continues: “We even had to go cap in hard to our parents which was very degrading. We felt complete and utter failures and it was so sad the day we closed the door to our home for the last time. The look on my children's faces still haunts me to this day.”

Worse. “We ended up in a grotty rented house that we found out had previously been occupied by a group of illegal immigrants who were, let's just say, not too up on the hygiene front.” 

Then the chance and magical meeting with the millionaire. It goes on for pages in much the same vein although her financial accounts seem to use both the £-sign and GBP (only used when there is no easily accessible pound sign). This suggests the whole booklet has been imported from the US and adapted to UK use.

I've read the whole booklet. I still have absolutely no idea what the great idea is even though I'm urged to send off for free trial system which comes with three DVDs, an audio CD and a “Business Accelerator Consultation” certificate. I'm assured there are “ZERO RISKS”

A little further research shows Jane is the UK face of a US “Cash on Demand” site which tells fans, for a price each month, how to set up websites and send out booklets encouraging others to send in cash to become rich.

It's a lovely tale but as with all fairy stories, there are some hidden nasties. In this case, all those people who are down on their luck, send cash to Jane and her ilk, get zero returns and end up even further in financial desperation.