Dubai millionaire on TV "The worse off the Swiss are, the better off we are"
Getting rich with just a laptop on your lap: the desert emirate of Dubai is not just a gold-rush town for Generation Z. ProSieben reporter Jenke von Wilmsdorff can't stop being amazed.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- TV reporter Jenke von Wilmsdorff took a look behind the glittering facades in Dubai.
- In his ProSieben program, he wonders how people manage to become incredibly rich in a short space of time.
- Some of those "affected" tell their stories and leave the reporter at a loss.
What does it take to get rich quickly? In 2025, it's obviously not that much. "I just need myself, my PC, the numbers and the markets," says Eugen Denisenko as he lets the camera crew look over his shoulder late at night. A colorful choreography of screens with columns of numbers and curves flickers in front of the young, muscular man.
Eugen is a late repatriate from Kazakhstan, grew up in humble circumstances and is now one of tens of thousands of millionaires in Dubai, as he reveals to ProSieben reporter Jenke von Wilmsdorff. "JENKE. REPORT. Der Traum vom schnellen Geld" is the name of his movie, which you can stream on blue TV or Joyn. It is a crazy, but by no means insightless trip to the emirate with the reputation of a gold mining town.
As a day trader, Eugen bets on the smallest price movements on the stock markets. On good days, he earns 80,000 dollars (65,000 francs) or more. Exempt from any income tax. The state in the United Arab Emirates has enough money as it is.
"Because we are young, have money and live freedom"
"It's very cliché here, seriously!" the reporter is amazed when he meets Eugen and his business partners at a racetrack. The other McLaren and Jaguar drivers are also only in their early or mid-20s. "Why are you driving such poser cars?" asks von Wilmsdorff provocatively.
Eugen is not at a loss for an answer: "Because we're young, because we have the money and live freedom." Austrian Jürgen Schroll, who drives the reporter through the skyscraper canyons in an Audi R8, also knows that you won't be taken seriously in Dubai without an expensive sports car.
"We help companies and the self-employed to create tax-optimized structures," says the 25-year-old, describing the service that has made him a multimillionaire in the desert emirate within five years.
Every year, more "top performers", as Schroll calls them, emigrate from Europe to the Emirates. The tax optimizer's business is booming. "As harsh as it sounds, the worse off the Germans, Austrians and Swiss are, the better off we are." The majority of his clients find that they no longer receive an appropriate return from the state in their home country for all the tax money they pay.
Ex-policewoman increases her salary tenfold - with just one product
Lisa Nitschke used to have a very useful job in Germany. She earned 2,500 euros (2320 francs) as a senior police officer. Today, she makes 25,000 euros (23,200 francs) a month just by reselling fake Apple headphones from China - and the headphones are not the only product in her online stores.
Dropshipping is the name of the business model in which an online retailer sells products that they do not keep in stock themselves. "Synonymous with junk goods," scoffs Jenke during the home visit in Dubai.
However, he recognizes this: The requirements to make money with dropshipping are extremely low-threshold, he says. You don't have to be able to do much or invest much apart from a laptop with an internet connection: "It's an option that everyone actually has."
And how does Lisa feel about living in a tax haven without freedom of expression and women's rights? She doesn't have any issues with that, she replies: "I can do anything here myself, I feel super comfortable. I go out in the evening without being afraid."
"From cashier in Stockholm to multimillionaire in Dubai"
Want another dishwasher fairytale? Financial influencer Carl Runefelt, aka Carl Moon, tops a lot of things. Within three years, the Swede has gone "from supermarket cashier in Stockholm to crypto multimillionaire in Dubai", as the film says.
"Mindset is the most important thing," the 31-year-old Bitcoin expert tells Jenke von Wilmsdorff during the audience in the skyscraper: "I brainwashed myself that I was already rich when I wasn't." Like so many others, Carl Moon markets his success formulas on social media.
Jenke also picks on him: isn't he a tax dodger? "That's true. I do save taxes. But I just didn't feel safe in Europe anymore," says Carl. Dubai, on the other hand, is the perfect place to meet like-minded people: "Success is celebrated here, not bad-mouthed."
It can all be gone very quickly
Whether the glass-mirrored proto-world in the emirate (over 50 degrees in summer!) is appealing or nauseating - each viewer will decide individually. The fact is - as the film makes clear - that it has never been as easy and quick to get obscenely rich as it is today - at least in theory.
And those who are serious in their "mindset" will probably not be shocked by the fate of the investor Armin (name changed). He lost 450,000 euros (419,000 francs) to a fraudster: "What you've worked for in life is gone in one fell swoop."
Fraudsters lurk behind more than 50 percent of all financial promises on the Internet - Jenke von Wilmsdorff is still careful to provide the audience with this statistic.
