DA Gives Warning on Get-Rich-Quick Ads

Those newspaper and magazine advertisements that promise to reveal how to become wealthy with minimal effort are really scams meant to defraud the unwary, county prosecutors warned on Wednesday.

After receiving complaints about two such schemes recently, the consumer protection division of the Ventura County district attorney’s office has launched a campaign to warn the public about the misleading ads.

Promoters of one scheme--Midnight Mailing in Dearborn, Mich.--promise to tell individuals how they can make good money stuffing envelopes at home, said Deputy Dist. Atty. David Fairweather. After sending in $15, the victim receives a booklet with a list of 150 companies that purportedly hire people to work at home.

“The booklet is almost humorous and is stuffed with even more solicitations,” Fairweather said. “One pitch asks for another $20 to learn how to make money watching television.”

Another scheme--called the Set For Life plan from Randolph, Mass.--promises to share a “revolutionary new program” for creating wealth. But the victim willing to spend $10 receives a pamphlet that only hints at the program’s strategy and asks for another $50 to reveal the complete details.

For the $50, the victim is sent some generalized advice on positive thinking and five more copies of the program that the victim is instructed to sell to others, Fairweather said.

“The booklets are sham vehicles for promoting their endless, chain-type scheme,” he said. “The victim buys the right to erase the company’s address on the advertisement and use his own. The booklet itself is the ‘revolutionary program.’ ”

Local authorities were alerted to the Set For Life scam when residents of a mobile home park in Ojai noticed a man stuffing the ads into mailboxes.