One of the hardest things about starting a business online is being able to avoid all the NOISE about how to start a business online.

Most people who try to find ways of making extra income online or as a full time income source usually go ahead to buy all the courses they can lay their hands on and try as many strategies as possible from multiple gurus, which usually don’t get them anywhere.

If you are in this position, then this post is for you.

Of course, there are some very good online courses which you should most definitely invest in.

But you have to make sure you don’t belong to the category of people who buy courses expecting them to be the perfect blueprint or system to make as much money as possible or to achieve whatever desired goal without doing much work.

In fact, scam artists utilize this as one of their major tactics. They sell you the dream of making millions without doing much work, even if you are lazy.

They do this because a lot of gullible people will easily buy into these fantasies and if you do, you end up wasting your money and getting frustrated.

They are not who they claim to be and are only using the power of the internet to capitalize on people’s emotions, ignorance, and crazy urges for overnight wealth.

Having spent over N300,000 over the past 5 years acquiring knowledge through courses and all other kinds of digital products, I have pretty much seen all kinds of tactics and misleading claims employed by these crooks to scam newbies.

So, this post is about 5 Common Ways they can scam you and how to avoid everything from bad business advice to downright online scams.

1. Too Much Motivational Content:

One age-old tactic in marketing is to give away something of high value for free so that prospects can have the urge to open their wallets and buy your products.

Heck, even the aboki selling suya on the streets does this.

But you know something is off when a guru focuses more on hammering down on your emotions, and keeps trying to make you feel bad by telling you how your job is terrible, how sad your life is, and why you should hurry up and get his system.

There is little to no discussion of what the product is and how it can help you go from point A to point B.

Unless it’s a self-development product, if you notice this, shine your eyes.

2. Too Much Repetition and Errors:

I was surfing through Facebook feed a while back and I saw this Ad on a popular Facebook page.

I had no idea they accept Ads even.

So, this guy wants to teach people how to make money using WhatsApp TVs for N2,500.

Well, guess what?

There were too many grammatical and spelling errors on his graphics, and he kept repeating himself.

These was some of his bullet points:

You will learn how to be an influencer

You will learn how to set up a profitable influencer business

You will learn how to influence anybody

Something like this is a huge red flag and anybody that buys that program is basically wasting their time and money.

3. Claims That Are Too Good to Be True:

In my over 5-year experience on the internet making money space, I have seen it all.

I once saw an Ad for a program that promised to teach people how to make $20 per day just by listening to the radio.

I kid you not, go and search on YouTube.

What the fake gurus do is sell you the fantasy of making a significant amount of money within the shortest possible time, by doing the least amount of work.

You will see lines like:

I’ll show you a little-known business you can do to make a minimum of N650k per month, even if you are lazy.
And you can make even more if you are hardworking[/center]

How ridiculous does that sound please?

To make that substantial amount of money from ANY business online or offline, you must be really hardworking and determined.

You will have to become an entirely new person by shedding a lot of the habits that are holding you back like procrastination, lack of focus and perseverance, etc.

So don’t be deceived by anybody that claims you can make a lot of money by being lazy, they are simply setting you up for the slaughter.

4. Unverifiable Testimonials:

Now one smart thing that these fake gurus do is that they always present their messages within the fine lines of marketing.

After they have sold you the dangerous fantasy of making millions without doing much work, they follow it up with loads of screenshots of students who are supposedly making that amount of money.

At this point, you are seeing ordinary people like you who are doing it right?

If you were not sold before, your brain starts telling you otherwise now.

But listen closely cos this is what they do.

They run multiple websites where they claim to be different things and from there, they make bogus claims which you as a newbie may find hard to see through.

Some others give “bribes” to their so-called students to create video testimonials telling all sorts of lies with which they sell to you.

And of course, screenshots are easy to fake as well.

Then for the sports betting enthusiasts, I once came across a video where someone was using a special kind of software to edit winning slips, especially on sporty bet.

So, you see testimonials should be the least of your problems when deciding when to invest in a digital product. There are a thousand and one ways of coming up with fake testimonials.

5. Filler Content and Fake Bonuses:

There’s nothing wrong with someone charging you to teach you something they spent time and/or money to learn.

But think about it, why would anybody want to give away N500K worth of products for FREE as a bonus?

Well, it’s simple.

Because the bonuses are useless.

Unfortunately, there’s no way of truly finding out if a bonus is worthless or not until you have spent your hard-earned cash.

And the bad thing is that there are products you buy just because of the bonuses attached.

A friend was telling me recently how after studying a course she bought, she had to go back to the sales page to confirm if it was what she actually meant to buy.

I couldn’t stop laughing as she was narrating her ordeal to me.

And I have fallen victim to this as well in the past.

I bought an information marketing course just because of the done-for-you bonuses only to find out they are as worthless as sand.

They pile together worthless private label rights eBooks and pirated courses and slam their names on them and sell them to you.

They have inept knowledge of what they claim to teach you and the only way they are making any money is by scamming you into buying the worthless products.

Don't get me wrong though. Infinite value can be placed on a digital product but like most things in Nigeria, these so-called gurus have abused it by placing significant values on worthless products.

FINALLY….

The topic of how these crooks scam innocent Nigerians is not something I can exhaust in this one post.

But take this away….

There are great courses out there and if you can find them, by all means, go ahead and get them especially if they offer some kind of mentorship. One great mentor is better than thousands of eBooks and courses.

That aside, pay great attention to this.

To make money online in any real scalable way, there have to 3 things.
1. A product
2. A Traffic source (NOTHING works without Traffic)
3. A platform

Anybody selling you the idea of teaching how to make this and that amount of money should be able to convince you beyond every reasonable doubt about their knowledge and expertise on the said subject.

They should also be to explain properly, what the product is, where the traffic is going to come from to sell the product and on which platform this business model works best.

After these, you can then go ahead to confirm, when did this work and for whom does it work for.

Because what works for Mr. A may not work for Mr. B due to differences in financial capacity, temperament, skill set, expertise, etc.

Also, someone might be looking to teach tactics that indeed worked 6 months previously but if you buy into it and try it at when you bought into it, you’ll find that it doesn’t work anymore.

Obviously once in a while, you still fall for the very experienced scammers especially if you are a beginner.

That is why I’m inviting you to join my WhatsApp tribe if it interests you and I will make sure you don’t get scammed.

Each week, I will reveal the most popular products on internet marketing and share with you my reviews on the best ones.
I will tell you what the product does and how it can help you succeed.

You’ll learn the good and bad side of every product and have a full insiders look before you get any product because I already have access to a lot of these products.

I might even be able to negotiate a discount from the owner should you choose to buy.

You will basically be getting an INSIDE look into the course before you ever spend a penny.

Click on the WhatsApp link HERE to join my WhatsApp tribe NOW
You can also send me a message on WhatsApp via 09132063607

I have a very good money-making plan. About gift cards, find me!

While I agree with you, I also have my reservations, because of the following reasons;

1) You are doing the exact same thing your complaining about.

2) The average Nigerian is complacent and would rather have others do the work for them. Hence people taking advantage of our laziness.

3) As a course creator I have seen overtime that people want to each more than they can chew, wanting to learn everything at once.

Well I have taken a few courses and believe you me I got my monies worth and I am yet to over all the knowledge and skills I have now learnt.

Until people start understanding the value information and knowledge, they will still continue to fall victims for the wrong ones.