835: E-Commerce Scams | Skeptical Sunday

14 snips

May 14, 2023

Steve Chou, an e-commerce entrepreneur and host of The My Wife Quit Her Job Podcast, dives into the murky waters of online scams. He sheds light on the staggering $249 million lost to fake business opportunities in the past year. Chou discusses the pitfalls of relying on dropshipping and buying pre-made e-commerce sites, emphasizing the psychological tactics used by scammers. He also critiques the unsustainable reliance on AI-generated content, urging aspiring entrepreneurs to focus on building authentic brands and safeguarding against deception.

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INSIGHT

YouTube Scams

YouTube is a prime breeding ground for get-rich-quick schemes due to its video format.
Video builds trust more effectively than text or image ads, making it easier to convince viewers.

INSIGHT

Profitability of Scam Videos

Get-rich-quick videos earn significantly more ad revenue on YouTube than other content.
This incentivizes creators to produce scam videos, even without expertise.

ANECDOTE

Amazon Automation Scam

Steve Chou investigated an "Amazon Automation" scam, where people pay $30,000 for a done-for-you Amazon business.
The scammers manage the account in the victim's name and take a 15% cut of revenue, not profit.

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While working for yourself can be fulfilling and financially rewarding, it's important to understand that it takes a lot of effort and sacrifice — especially when you're just starting out. Unfortunately, there are scammers aplenty who want to sell you on get-rich-quick schemes that only make them rich at your expense. So how can you tell the difference between legitimate business opportunities and shams perpetrated by shady shysters eager to drain your bank account? This week on Skeptical Sunday, we're joined by Steve Chou — e-commerce entrepreneur, host of The My Wife Quit Her Job Podcast, and author of The Family-First Entrepreneur: How to Achieve Financial Freedom Without Sacrificing What Matters Most — to separate the wheat from the chaff.

On This Week's Skeptical Sunday:

According to the FTC, Americans were scammed out of $249 million through fake business and job opportunities in just the first three quarters of 2022 — but get-rich-quick schemes really started gaining traction in 2020 as criminals took advantage of people who lost their jobs during the pandemic.
The real math it takes to build a fortune from creating YouTube videos — and why relying on AI to create content from the ether is an unsustainable "strategy."
Why buying an impressive-looking "done for you" e-commerce site pre-populated with dropshipping products will likely lose you money in the long run.
How the astronomical income promised by countless dropshipping automation companies pans out when real-world middlemen and unreliable sources are factored in.
Why it's essential to research and verify any business opportunity before investing time and money into it — if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Real businesses require effort, time, and some sacrifice to gain the momentum needed to make them rewarding.
And much more!
Connect with Jordan on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. If you want us to tackle something here on Skeptical Sunday, drop Jordan a line at jordan@jordanharbinger.com and let him know!
Connect with Steve at his website, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, and check out The My Wife Quit Her Job Podcast and The Family-First Entrepreneur: How to Achieve Financial Freedom Without Sacrificing What Matters Most!

Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/835

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