Did you miss out on getting rich quick via bitcoin? Don’t worry: TikTok’s legions of personal finance influencers have you covered with a cunning new moneymaking scheme called the Young Indian Method (Yim). The viral idea is this: you set up a business doing a service such as video editing or graphic design, but outsource all the work to India or somewhere else you can find cheap labour. Then you rake in massive profits off the back of exploited workers. Genius!

Now, before you dust off your pitchfork, I should note that it’s not clear whether every Yim evangelist is entirely serious. It seems that the concept was coined by an influencer as a joke – a satirical take on the way some American startup bros openly boast about how they maximise their profits by paying overseas workers as little as possible. And, obviously, it’s hardly just startup bros making a buck by exploiting cheap labour. That’s sort of the basis of capitalism.

Satire and reality are increasingly indistinguishable, however. While Yim may have been coined as a joke, large numbers of social media influencers are trying to capitalise on the idea by selling guides to making money via the method. The technology news site 404 Media recently bought one of these guides and found it riddled with dehumanising language and iffy ethics. “Do not be scared to get rid of any Indians slacking, wasting time or offering poor quality within the team,” read one titbit of advice. “Remember, these guys are easily replaceable. They are exactly like soldiers.”

The Yim isn’t the only piece of questionable business advice online. Social media is full of self-styled “finance gurus” peddling dubious (and sometimes downright fraudulent) get-rich-quick schemes. For a while, real estate was a favourite topic among these people. Now, the hot new thing is AI: scammers and finance influencers are selling how-to guides promising untold riches by getting ChatGPT to do all your work. And while it’s easy to sneer at the people taken in by these scams, you can see why they have such a rapt audience. The idea that hard work and ethics pay off is increasingly difficult to sell in a world where cheaters always seem to win.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist