The following newspaper articles cover general advice on making extra money and also cautionary tales about pyramid selling type schemes.

We looked at various online archives but could only find useful stuff from the Guardian / Observer.

The Telegraph Group is inaccessible to non members - so not much use for our purposes of giving you links. But you might want to join them yourself and search their archive for "get rich quick", "working from home" and similar phrases. (Go to the Telegraph website). The Independent and The Financial Times didn't seem to have anything.

Meanwhile we feel the articles we've found, below, cover the subject comprehensively.

A bit on the side? and how to make it

Want to earn extra cash? Ignore those get-rich-quick ads, says Sue Fieldman, and look around at home instead, But be prepared for some hard work.

Sue Fieldman, Guardian, Sunday May 2, 1999

Life's financial pressures are more intense than ever. Even those of us not facing ruin are hankering after a nicer place to live, a half-decent car, a good social life and the best of everything for our children. Read more

If there's any problem with the link go to the archive direct. Copy the title (above) into the search bar and it should find it for you.

Partying for a profit

Sandra Deeble explains how the Avon Lady of the Sixties has given way to high-powered women selling direct for cash, BMWs and expensive holidays.

Sandra Deeble, Observer, Sunday March 17, 2002.

'Do you think I was born with BMW car keys in my hand?' asks the confident woman on the podium. 'Time is no excuse. Direction will create time. Motivation will create energy. Keep working girls: you'll soon have a sleek, silver machine like mine.' Read more

If there's any problem with the link go to the archive direct. Copy the title (above) into the search bar and it should find it for you.

Write your own pay cheque

There are many ways to stack up enormous wealth if you know how but, for novices, to make a fortune do a book.

By Sean Coughlan, Guardian, Saturday May 22, 1999

Get rich quick - these are three little words suggesting all kinds of big possibilities. As the title of this column suggests, we all could do with a little Easy Money.

But how do you do it? Working for someone else will never get you very far, no matter how hard you try. It might make the hamster's wheel spin a little faster, but it won't get you out of the cage. If hard work got you anywhere, first-class cabins on planes would be full of tea-pickers. Read more

If there's any problem with the link go to the archive direct. Copy the title (above) into the search bar and it should find it for you.

US prosecutes plan supporter

Shana Jaycox faces prison after writing to her local newspaper in praise of a get-rich-quick scheme.

Lesley Curwen, Guardian, Saturday July 21, 2001.

Shana Jaycox is a thirty-something brunette, who met her husband on a blind date and spends her spare time appearing in beauty pageants. She has three children, and she looks like any ad-man's dream of an all-American mom. However, the truth is more complicated than that: Shana is facing a year in a New York State jail, for involvement in a pyramid money-making scheme called Women Empowering Women. Read more

If there's any problem with the link go to the archive direct. Copy the title (above) into the search bar and it should find it for you.

The fall of Barnsley's superspiv

Paul Farrelly charts the fortunes of Kevin Jones, Doncaster hairdresser turned pyramid scheme conman.

Paul Farrelly, Observer, Sunday July 2, 2000

This is the story of Kevin Jones, Britain's king of pyramid selling. In a five-year reign in the Nineties, this slick Doncaster hairdresser-turned-serial superspiv fleeced more people through more illegal get-rich-quick schemes than any other con merchant in the UK before him. Read more

If there's any problem with the link go to the archive direct. Copy the title (above) into the search bar and it should find it for you.

'I earned $89,178... I just couldn't believe it'. Don't.

Tony Levene, Guardian, Saturday July 7, 2001

There's no need to travel any further than the inbox of your email system to find a pyramid scam. The miracle of modern communication means pyramid merchants can send thousands of messages at no cost and in no more time than it takes to instruct the computer to email a list. Read more

If there's any problem with the link go to the archive direct. Copy the title (above) into the search bar and it should find it for you.