I think it's about cheating you out of money. See this Houston Chronicle article which includes a quote from an IRS representative stating that no such thing exists.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/buggs /5283228.html

I've heard that some people are saying these so-called 801(k) investments are in fact simply dividend reinvestment plans (DRIPs). DRIPs are legitimate investments that have been around a long time where dividends are automatically reinvested in more stock of the company paying the dividend. They are run by individual companies and do not require any kind of payment to a middleman. If you're interested in DRIPs, I recommend directly contacting the company (IBM, GE, Bank of America, etc.) that you have stock in for information. I would definitely NOT deal with anyone making up new names for something that's been around for a long time. That's a red flag to me of someone trying to be deceptive to cheat people out of money.