Get-rich schemes under fire.

Publication: The Miami Herald (Miami, Florida) (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News)

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COPYRIGHT 2005 The Miami Herald

Feb. 23--Federal and state authorities launched a national crackdown Tuesday on scam artists who promote home employment get-rich-quick schemes that cost consumers millions.

Those officials are fingering South Florida as the rip-off capital of America.

It is "one of the consumer-fraud capitals of the country, if not the world," said Marcos D. Jimenez, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, which is part of the crackdown.

More than 4,000 people were duped into investing some $60 million into six South Florida-based companies that pushed phony business opportunities, according to Jimenez's office.

The scam businesses come in many forms. Some offer high pay for stuffing envelopes, designing websites or medical billing at home. Others...

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