The FTC is cracking down on three prominent "get rich quick" schemes that robbed consumers of $300 million.

John Beck/Mentoring of America is the marketer behind "John Beck's Free & Clear Real Estate System," "John Alexander's Real Estate Riches in 14 Days" and "Jeff Paul's Shortcuts to Internet Millions." People who bought into any of these programs were unknowingly signed up for additional monthly charges of $40!

"To con artists, today's challenging economy presents just another opportunity to play on consumers' worry and bilk them out of money," David Vladeck, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement.

On our show, we've seen a steady rise of calls and e-mails about these "dare to be rich" programs that are often marketed through seminars and hotel-ballroom presentations.

As Clark said back in the 1990s, be very wary when someone tells you about a magic strategy to get rich in real estate.

The consumer champ knows a man who had a great career that many would consider a dream job. But he was a bit bored with it. This man responded to an infomercial, went to a hotel ballroom and got so fired up that he quit his job in mid-career and borrowed 100% of the cost to buy rental properties in three states. Not a smart move.

The whole philosophy with these kinds of schemes is to get rich using OPM (other people's money). It dovetailed perfectly with the loose lending standards of the '90s.

And it's very similar to what happened before the stock market collapse of 1929. Back then, you could borrow up to 90% of the cost of a share. More recently, the failed Lehman Brothers and other institutions were allowed to do 30:1 bets. They only had three cents in the game out of every speculative dollar. The results were disastrous in both instances.

Remember, you make money the old-fashioned way -- one step at a time. There's no overnight (or 14 day) way to do it.