We take a look at a get-rich-quick “opportunity” that revealed itself to us on social media recently, and look to see whether the claims really were a little too good to be true.
Today the following “Sponsored Post” appeared in our Facebook newsfeed (many other different permutations exist, however.)
Branson: “The monarch is FUMING at me for sharing this because most people quit their job within a month of this. I hope this is removed and hidden from the public before too many catch on…”
The post appears to claim that Sir Richard Branson has shared some opportunity that he hopes “will be removed soon” since many people are able to quit their job after reading it. We took a closer look.
Despite the URL on the Facebook post appearing to suggest the link belongs to the Biography.com domain, it doesn’t. Upon clicking the link, we were redirected across several domains before finally landing on the website OfficialViralNews.com The website, screenshot below, appeared upon a cursory glance to be that of CNN Money. However, it wasn’t on their domain. The title read “Richard Branson Reveals Easy Work At Home Trick (Quit Your Job in 30 days!)”
The site begins with this –
Branson is sending shockwaves throughout all of Britain by revealing his secret formula that the average British worker is using to make fast money from home.
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Branson says, “It’s even dangerous to talk about it, because the powerful elite does not want the average British worker to have this much wealth. Because the wealthier the population is, the less power they themselves have. They hate me for sharing this!”
After a hearty introduction about how top secret the whole opportunity apparently is, we were then told to click another link which, just like the first link, redirected us across several domains before landing on a landing page we were already familiar with. The Brit Method.
The Brit Method goes under other guises, including The Aussie Method and The Irish Method. We’ve discussed the “opportunity” before. If it wasn’t clear already, this has nothing to do with Richard Branson. Despite the sales pitch on the Facebook post we stumbled across, this isn’t something he “accidentally” shared. The inclusion of Branson’s name is simply a flat out lie to hook potential victims.
The Brit Method is a site that promotes Binary Options trading, but does so using an unrealistic and dramatically hyped sales pitch. Essentially, that sales pitch describes Binary Options as a shortcut to financial wealth and a guarantee to quick wealth. It’s neither.
Binary Options is actually a form of unregulated trading where the trader predicts whether a particular stock will rise or fall in a short period of time, where traditional trading involves the purchase of stock. If the trader predicts the stock rises or falls correctly, they get a fixed return on the amount they invested. If they don’t, they lose the investment.
Sponsored Content. Continued below...
As such, Binary Options is basically gambling. Despite claims made by various websites like The Brit Method, it isn’t a get-rich-quick system. There is no way to ‘game’ or cheat at Binary Options trading. There are no “killer systems” or “proven formulas”. It’s gambling, and most of those who embark upon it are unlikely to make any significant return on their investment, and of course risk losing all the money they invest on it.
However sites like The Brit Method and the people behind the Richard Branson themed Facebook post don’t care. Because they get paid a commission for luring visitors to Binary Option websites. And using hyped, misleading and plain deception sales pitches means more people they trick into signing up.
This post should illustrate three things.
1. Facebook doesn’t really care what sort of websites sign up to their sponsored advert platform.
2. Get-rich-quick schemes are always ever-present on the Internet.
3. Don’t get involved with Binary Options trading.
If you are interested in making some money online, there are lots of legitimate ways to do this. We take a look at some of them here.
