I finally tallied up what I lost in the "viral course" scam last spring

Six months ago I paid $350 for this online course from some influencer who got canceled a week later for faking her whole lifestyle. The course promised to teach you how to make money with digital products. I got maybe 3 basic videos and then she vanished. No refunds. No responses. I checked and at least 200 other people bought in too. Has anyone else gotten burned by those flashy sales pages that disappear right after the person gets called out?

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grayperez3mo ago

My buddy once paid $200 for a "secret recipe" ebook that turned out to be just a link to a free government food blog. He was so mad he tracked down the seller's PayPal and filed a dispute six months later, somehow got his money back too.

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christopherj633mo ago

Yeah $350 is rough but honestly it could have been way worse. I paid $1200 for a "business mentorship" from a guy who bragged about his Lamborghini and then got exposed for using rented cars in his videos. What I want to know is did you check if she had any actual proof of sales before you paid? Like did she show real screenshots of her revenue or was it mostly lifestyle flexing and vague promises? Because that's the red flag I missed myself - if they can't show you three months of real bank statements or tax returns then they're full of shit. Also these people always use the same fake urgency crap like "only 10 spots left" and "price going up tomorrow" which should make anyone run. The worst part is they know exactly how long to keep the scam running before deleting everything and starting fresh with a new account.

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