Double, treble or multiply your money even further – and all within a few years. It sounds an ideal alternative to low-interest savings and high-risk shares, especially, as the promoters point out, "They're not making land any more".

Gains like these are held out by "landbankers", unregulated firms that buy land without planning permission to sell to investors in small slices. Purchasers are led to expect the field will get the go-ahead for housing development, seeing it explode in value.

But the winners are the promoters rather than the investors. Typically, landbankers buy land for under £10,000 an acre and then cut it up into plots of one-tenth of an acre. They sell these plots to investors for £8,000 to £16,000 each – earning them around £80,000 to £160,000 an acre.

(Via The Guardian. To read the full story, click here)