Hoaxes and scams have been around for a long time, and they change as the world does. In recent years I’ve noticed a trend growing online, and I believe one of the biggest hoax/scams today – Selling online courses. I’m not talking about academic courses; it’s the courses that promise rapid success that are the problem. I see people selling courses everywhere online, in any industry. For example, I get advertisements for guitar courses that promise mastery of the instrument, and I get advertisements for courses that promise profit in the stock and crypto market. Someone who’s mildly educated in those fields know that a one-month course will not make you close to a master in either field.
There’s one model that bothers me though. I see people in my grade selling random sales courses to other people my age and it seems totally wrong. On snapchat and Instagram, they will make posts saying how they need a group of committed individuals to grow and succeed with. It turns out they need a group of individuals to buy their sales course. I understand that sales courses can be effective, but these “instructors” are probably underqualified. It’s very rare for a 20-year-old to be a master of anything, and I doubt these people have been doing sales since they were a baby. I have seen this course hoax on my personal snapchat story, the Montana State, and the UNR snapchat stories. Most of these courses just lead to selling life insurance to old people.
These hoaxes all share common traits, like the promise of quick success, and a one-size-fits-all learning model. Those are a few things to look out for when you encounter this hoax. When involving finance, I always see the instructors flaunting a lavish lifestyle saying it can all be yours, this is another red flag that is extremely common. People have been exposed for using leased vehicles, watches, and other things while claiming it’s all theirs to promote something. To me, lifestyle influencing is the biggest red flag because it’s impossible to know and trust that person’s intentions.
So, if you see someone selling a course online, its most likely a hoax for quick cash and won’t be effective, or it’s a total scam. But there are legitimate instructors that are qualified to be teaching their craft. Just watch out for the promotion of lifestyles, quick success, and one-size-fits-all. But most importantly do your research on the course and the person selling it.
Thanks for reading!