A get-rich-quick scheme is an offer, plan, or purported business opportunity that promises unusually large profits or rapid wealth for little investment, effort, skill, or risk. The term is commonly used as a broad label for deceptive or fraudulent investment, work-at-home, and other money-making offers.

The phrase get rich quick was used in connection with dubious investments by at least the early 20th century.

Consumer-protection and securities regulators warn that get-rich-quick schemes typically combine promises of high returns with little or no risk, exaggerated or unsubstantiated earnings claims, urgency, and vague or secretive explanations of how the profit is supposedly generated. In the United States, sellers covered by the Federal Trade Commission's Business Opportunity Rule must provide specified disclosures, and earnings claims must be supported by written substantiation.

Promoters often market such schemes as requiring little prior experience or specialized knowledge, and may use testimonials, luxury imagery, or claims of insider methods to create the impression that substantial profits can be earned quickly and easily.

Get-rich-quick schemes can take the form of investment scams, bogus business opportunities, work-at-home offers, and coaching or training systems marketed with unrealistic earnings claims.

In the investment context, such schemes often overlap with Ponzi schemes and high-yield investment programs, which commonly promise unusually high returns with little or no risk.

Business-opportunity variants frequently advertise activities such as envelope stuffing, craft assembly, vending-machine routes, or online storefront management, while downplaying costs and overstating likely earnings.

Early uses of the phrase appeared in popular magazines and business writing, where get-rich-quick described speculative or dubious ventures.