The Dark Side of Online Income: How Scammers Are Using AI and Social Media to Make Millions

How Scammers Make Money (The Funnel)

Here’s the real genius (or evil genius) behind these scams: they follow the same funnel structure as legitimate affiliate marketing, just without the honesty.

1. The Hook (Viral Video Ad)

The scam funnel usually begins with the hook: a long-form video ad that promises to reveal a hidden “secret,” whether it’s a weight-loss hack, a crypto shortcut, or a miracle cure. The video keeps viewers engaged by relentlessly pressing on their pain points, repeating messages like, “You’ve tried everything and failed, it’s not your fault.”

2. The Emotional Build-Up

From there, the pitch moves into an emotional build-up. Fake authority is used to create trust, often through deepfaked doctors, celebrity cameos, or stolen before-and-after photos. A layer of conspiracy is added with claims such as, “They don’t want you to know this,” and warnings like, “Watch before it’s deleted.”

3. The Pitch (Affiliate Offer)

The pitch usually arrives after fifteen or twenty minutes, when the “free secret recipe” suddenly turns into a paid product. More often than not, it’s a supplement, a dropshipping gadget, or access to a crypto platform, all promoted through networks like Digistore24 or ClickBank, which pay hefty commissions to affiliates.

4. The Back-End (Subscriptions & Upsells)

But the funnel doesn’t end there. On the back end, customers are often signed up for recurring billing or bombarded with upsells ranging from detox pills to gut health boosters. Every step is designed to generate another cut for the scammer.

This is what makes these schemes so effective: they aren’t run by random amateurs, but by savvy online marketers building highly optimized affiliate funnels. The only difference is that while a legitimate affiliate promotes products that actually work, these operators are selling nothing but lies.