The Network of Non-Scam Scammers

A couple of weeks ago, I received what seemed to be a very important and interesting invitation from Matt.  He had an opening in his Social Media Director Mentorship Program for 2019 and was wondering if I would like to join them?  I was not about to ignore such an incredible opportunity, and so, I dutifully clicked on the link he sent on the email.

The link took me to the page describing the program, where a message from Matt immediately started playing. Poor Matt! Six years ago he was “unemployed, uninspired and dead broke.”  He tried several things that did not work and embarrassed himself several times. I wonder how? Finally, a breakthrough! He “figured out what it takes to not only to reach and engage people online….but to get quality customers for virtually any type of business using social media.”  He was so successful, he become an expert and a bit of a celebrity in his own town.  That was probably the best part of all… Well, that and having the freedom to work anywhere in the world, travel to magical places, try new hobbies like surfing, join other celebrities on holidays….the life I dream about but have yet found a way to achieve. I could accept Matt’s invitation, right?

You see, after having to turn business away, he decided to share the wealth and teach his strategy, methodology, the theory behind his success to some of his friends. Yep, they were successful beyond his expectations!  Now, for the small amount of $1,950.00 I can join the growing group of “very successful entrepreneurs” who were once broke, frustrated with their 9 to 5 jobs, wanting to stay home with their kids, looking for their purpose in life and are now their own bosses, and work very few hours a day……. Right!

Let me tell you how Matt found me. After I decided to start my own business, I went from searching for jobs to researching the training industry, event planning, small business start-ups, anything and everything that could help me in my new journey.  I did find that information but I also found this incredible network of people making money selling “nothing”.  I am still surprised by this finding. It is incredible how all their stories follow the same path: they were all broke, decided to be their own boss, worked very hard to get there, are now very successful, and, this is the most amazing part about them:  they are willing to “share their secret” so other people can also make the “kind of money they are making”.   I am not sure I want to make that kind of money.

A search for “home-based business” will reveal several opportunities to become your own boss, make money quickly, and have passive income….. Just pick the one you like the most. Maybe you want to “Stand Out and Make Money on YouTube” or learn the “Art of Start: Turning Ideas into High Growth Business”, or “Start Your Own Blog and Make Money Overnight” or better yet “Become an Instagram Influencer and Monetize Your Following”.  We went from a society that values leaders to one that values FOLLOWERS. No matter what you choose, the pitch is the same:  if you follow the steps they give you, work as hard as they did, you will be as successful as they are in no time.  To get the “decoder”, however, a small contribution to their wallets is required, so they can maintain that lifestyle they talk about on their videos.

There is only a tiny detail they do not disclose, though — the way they really make money. Maybe they made some money following the steps of the course they are selling but most likely it is just “a crummy commercial”, as Ralphy found out.  Don’t despair! There is a way to make money by following their real business model. It is what I call the non-scam scam. It is very simple really:

1. First you create an e-learning course about anything, as long as you can guarantee a lot of money to be made if the method is followed.  Don’t worry about quality, YouTube has greatly lowered our standards.
2. Then create a free webinar where you will give enough information about your program to entice people to pay for it.  To attend the webinar people will have to give you their e-mails addresses and join the Facebook page about the course, Instagram group and/or other social media groups related to your program. Remember that we are now a society of followers. Only people with lots of followers become influencers and make money.
3. Sign up to receive information from people offering similar opportunities to make lots of money quickly.  Once you have their contact information, let them know about your free webinar and start promoting their free webinars.

Tah dah! You will belong to the network of people that promote each other on their blogs, websites, Facebook pages, Instagram accounts.  They post everyone’s success stories so they reinforce the idea that you too, can be a part of this “living the life” group.  This is, to me, the worst part of the trap.  One that, unfortunately, I fell for.  During my early stages of research, I found this blog dedicated to women that, are already, or want to work from home.  The blog had real useful and interesting information on how to start a home-based business, companies that hire for remote positions, even advice on how to protect yourself against scams. At least their definition of scams anyway.

One of the postings was promoting a FREE Work at Home Summit webinar.  The description of what was included seemed very real and extremely good. This is where I should have noticed the first red flag but, as the webinar was FREE, sure enough I registered for it.  Remembering all this, makes me laugh at myself.  The webinar was not even a live one.  It was a video of bubbly young Caitlin telling us her story, and yup, you guessed: fired and flat broke, she started offering proof reading services and before long she was making 40K a year and she was so happy she decided to help other people find happiness by teaching them her methods. This is where the FREE ride stopped and I had to buy my ticket to reach the Summit.  Red flag number 2 missed by me.  Not good!

To actually have access to what was described on the original post and other courses like Facebook for Business, Etsy, Steps to create a blog, I would have to pay $197.00.  The ‘’money back guarantee’ made me ignore my natural instincts and pay to embark on the trip.  Agh! The view of this Summit had nothing to do with what one sees upon reaching to top of the mountain. Rather than seeing something beautiful and extraordinary, I saw something ugly and shameful.  It gave me the full view and understanding of the network of scammers and propagators that is now populating the internet.  As I clicked on each module, I was taken to the webpage of the person giving that course where I had to give my e-mail address and yes, join their Facebook group in order to download the material.   Memo to myself: unfollow all these people in order to save reputation…..

The massive amount of emails they sent on a daily basis offering me new opportunities to make money was unbelievable.  One of the “instructors” from the Work-A-Home School got pissed at me for not accepting her invitation to attend her new course on budgeting. She was probably shocked that the money-making network actually failed her. Red flag 3 spotted and burned. Ha!

This takes us back to Matt who was the instructor of Ultimate Facebook Profits which is a part of Catlin’s Summit which was recommended to me by Holly, owner of the WHW blog.  A blog I considered good until a couple of weeks ago when I received two emails from Holly about the new product offered by Caitlin – Work Your Way 2019 – 100% FREE Virtual Conference. Red flag number 4 – NOT missed!

There are successful people using these media to provide real services and many do have high standards. They are a source of inspiration for us to keep our dreams alive. Those are genuine people who worked truly hard to achieve their goals from whom we can learn good lessons. Social media had the promise and still the chance of doing a lot of good.   Just keep an eye out for the red flags!