The internet has always been a gold mine. This is the place where the founder of Iwon.com became a billionaire by running a no-charge, ad-free web portal that randomly gave away $1,000,000 to every fifth visitor. In this Oz-like magical land, money not only grows on trees, but actually falls down from the limbs and into your pockets as you pass.

Whatever you're trying to sell, from porn to comedy to personal ads to sock puppets, there's a mountain of web money waiting for you.

Ah, but we must choose our business proposals wisely. Some multilevel marketing programs can be too successful, for instance, with hordes of townspeople banging at your door and demanding the latest herbal diet supplements or small figurines made in Thailand depicting New York City firemen rescuing puppies using an American flag.

Plus, we cannot forget the awful cautionary tale of Margaret Greensmith, the Idaho woman who took on a "Make Money from Home!!11" business and was found four days later, dead under a 800-lb. pile of money.

Indeed it is a cruel world. That's why the odds are that right now in your Inbox is an e-mail that looks a little something like this:

Obviously, you are intrigued. It is a cry for help from a wealthy African widow whose financial assets are about to be seized by a cruel government. In exchange for your help - a series of trivial transfer expenses and the like - you will receive over five million dollars.

The e-mail assures you the transaction is risk free and by the rules of the internet, they would have to tell you if it was not. But is this a sound investment?

 

There are many, since I receive one of these offers every 30 minutes or so. I actually weep a little each time, when I contemplate the state of a continent where so many millions of wealthy widows of Generals can be harassed by iron-fisted dictators.