

It is, however, illegal in places with stricter email regulations – you may have heard of GDPR. Indeed, typically these will be product ads, but what makes them spam is that they are being sent to millions of people when, in reality, a relatively small number of people will actually be interested.īy the way, this is not actually illegal in the US. As are life insurance ads, personal loan ads, and many others. Yes, Viagra advertisements are one example. Usually, spam doesn’t have the intention to deceive, but the message will be unsightly and/or annoying. Viagra pills, anyone? Although this is similar with #2, it’s not quite the same thing. And definitely don’t try to run this scam on others. Sadly, many people have fallen for this one over the years. Now, all they need is your banking info to send it to you! The basic concept is that some rich person you’ve never heard of sends you an email saying you are owed some ungodly amount of money, like $100 million. Although it has almost become a farce in the world of the internet, it is nevertheless rooted in reality.

I’m sure you have heard of the “Nigerian prince” character by now. Obviously, this type of crime requires advanced technical knowledge, and the punishment can be steep. The result of these breaches was hundreds of millions of people having their data, and possibly even their identities, compromised. I’m sure you have heard about the many data breaches that have happened in recent years, such as those with Experian, Target, and other companies. You may have heard “cash is king,” but let’s be honest: these days, data is king.

This is more about building awareness about these things and trying to understand why people do them. Illegal Ways To Make Money OnlineĪgain, I just want to reiterate that anyone actually do any of these illegal activities to make money. Maybe they don’t want to resort to illegal activity – but maybe they don’t have a choice. Some people are just in a tough situation. This is not unlike what can happen in real life. Sure, you could argue he should find a way to develop real skills so he doesn’t have to resort to stealing.Īt that exact moment, though, he is fighting for survival and doesn’t have the breathing room to start learning a new skill. He is poor and must steal the melon for the sake of survival. If you don’t know, Aladdin is a street urchin. In this scene, we see Aladdin and his pet monkey, Abu, collude to steal a melon from the marketplace. There are other, more nuanced, and more complex socio-economic reasons for why people resort to illegal means of making money.Ĭonsider this clip from the classic movie, Aladdin: Admittedly much more than from taking surveys.īut that is just the obvious aspect of it. If it doesn’t bother you knowing you are very likely harming others in the process (it would certainly bother me), then you can make a lot of money through illegal means. The obvious reason, of course, is that many illegal money-making ventures are extremely lucrative. The answers to this question are potentially many, so I certainly can’t give one answer that applies to everyone who resorts to illicit activity. The way I see it, even if we think we would never “try this at home,” there could still be something to learn from it. I just thought this could be a fun, if not so serious, topic to think about. Note that I say “interesting” – I am not condoning any of these ideas or suggesting you try them. In this post I thought it would be interesting to talk about illegal ways to make money. Conclusion on Illegal Ways to Make Money.“Real World” Illegal Ways to Make Money.
