FBC – 241 – How I got scammed yesterday…

How I got scammed yesterday…

Today, I want to tell you how I got scammed by unethical marketers and what I am going to do about it. This is a little bit of a rant but also, more importantly, a perfect example of what to do to avoid similar problems.

I want to tell you about something. And it's a rant. It's not about you or anything, it's just a very bad experience that I had with a vendor yesterday, actually online. And I wanted to talk to you about it because this is something that's very important.

So just like, you know, in life, not in this, not just in business or anything, you have to be you know, you have to show integrity and you have to deliver on your promises because otherwise that can only lead you to trouble.

So yesterday a buddy of mine told me about this service that was pretty cool. So he asked me for my opinion. So I looked at it and I was like, oh, this is pretty awesome. I like it. It's like sixty dollars and then does something that will bring me a lot more than sixty dollars. It can bring me like tens of thousands of dollars.

And it was a good deal. So he sends me this YouTube video about this product, then I look for the sales page. I find it and I go on

In This Episode

the on the order form.

So the form says, well, you pay 60 bucks for one time and it's unlimited. I'm like, well, that's me. I love that. So I go and buy it. Right. So I pay. I've received the email and all that stuff with the explanation of how to actually activate your license. So it wasn't really clear, but that's not a problem. You always find information. I just have to look a little bit.

Right. So here's the thing. So now I access my account, I validate my license, I connect my Facebook account and stuff. And then I realize that the account is advertised as limited. So it says limited in big letters. It only gives you the ability to do five requests a day.

So apparently, instead of having 80 or, you know, 70 to 80 percent of the results, you're going to get three percent or five percent of the results. And now they're telling you, oh, oh, by the way, if you actually want the unlimited version now, you have to pay two hundred more dollars. Right.

So when I look at this, I'm like, dude, you advertise something that was unlimited. And now all of a sudden, once you you've taken my money, you are now asking me to pay two hundred bucks for something I should have already had.

So I contacted the vendor and I said, well, I'm sorry, guys, but here's your sales pitch. And on your sales page, it clearly says that the tool isn't limited and it's unlimited. Now you're asking me to pay two hundred bucks.

So I really don't want to cause a fuss or, you know, start a big argument or something with you guys. Can you please upgrade my license to what I was promised?  If you don't want to upgrade my license, I will take it up with PayPal because I paid through PayPal. You’re scamming people. So please upgrade my license.

So I get something back from them saying, well, you know what? We've decided to ban you from our system. We're going to close your account. We're going to refund you the money and then that's it. And so at that point, you know, I give them a chance to actually get out of that situation. Right.

How I got scammed yesterday…

I didn't want to cause trouble or anything, but the way they handled it was not acceptable. So basically, you know, you're just trying to silence someone. You're like, oh, you know what? This this guy is questioning our methods. Let's just get rid of them and just extort money from the next guy, which is something I really don't like.

So I opened a dispute with PayPal and I explained the situation. I said, well, here's the thing. So there is no mention of any limitation. There is one package which is unlimited. Here it is. I paid 60 bucks. Now they asked me to pay three times more to get what I paid for originally.

Secondly, I asked them to upgrade my license. And what they're doing now is they're trying to get rid of me by closing my account and banning me so that I can never buy the product again, as if it was my problem. My fault. Right. So they're like banning you so that you can never buy the product again.

So, anyway, long story short, I contacted their payment processor. I contacted PayPal. And I'm not going to let that thing slide because, you know, I tried to reason with these people saying, well, this is bad practice. Please don't extort money from people. And this is how they reacted. So they're going to hear from me. I'm not going to let that go.

So the moral of the story here was don't do that kind of stuff. Deliver on your promise and over deliver. That is what you want to do. You want to over deliver instead of under. Nothing good comes out of under-delivery.

Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you protect yourself from unethical online marketers?

Require specific, measurable guarantees before purchasing. Ask for case studies with verifiable results. Research the vendor's reputation in independent communities, not just their own testimonials. Insist on a clear refund policy before paying.

What should you do if you get scammed by an online vendor?

Document everything immediately: screenshots of promises, receipts, and communications. File a chargeback with your credit card if within the window. Leave a factual, verifiable review to warn others. Report to consumer protection agencies if the amount is significant.

What are the red flags of an unethical online marketer?

Vague deliverable descriptions, artificial urgency, testimonials without verifiable contact information, refund policies buried in fine print, and pressure to decide before you have reviewed everything are all consistent warning signs.

Can you recover money lost to an online scam?

Sometimes. Credit card chargebacks within 60-120 days are the most reliable recovery method. PayPal disputes work for smaller amounts. Bank wire transfers are generally unrecoverable. The fastest path to resolution is always your payment provider, not direct negotiation with the vendor.

How do you protect yourself from unethical online marketers?

Require specific, measurable guarantees before purchasing. Ask for case studies with verifiable results. Research the vendor's reputation in independent communities, not just their own testimonials. Insist on a clear refund policy before paying.

What should you do if you get scammed by an online vendor?

Document everything immediately: screenshots of promises, receipts, and communications. File a chargeback with your credit card if within the window. Leave a factual, verifiable review to warn others. Report to consumer protection agencies if the amount is significant.

In This Episode

What are the red flags of an unethical online marketer?

Vague deliverable descriptions, artificial urgency, testimonials without verifiable contact information, refund policies buried in fine print, and pressure to decide before you have reviewed everything are all consistent warning signs.

Can you recover money lost to an online scam?

Sometimes. Credit card chargebacks within 60-120 days are the most reliable recovery method. PayPal disputes work for smaller amounts. Bank wire transfers are generally unrecoverable. The fastest path to resolution is always your payment provider, not direct negotiation with the vendor.

Related Reading

• FBC – 4 Part 1 – This is the story of my life: Success, Failure and The Hurdles.
• FBC – 3 – Escape your life of sacrifice! Don’t settle for less than your dream lifestyle.
• FBC – 8 – The Weirdest Challenge To Boost Your Confidence
• Other really cool tips that will give you an unfair advantage

The 2026 operator update on getting scammed: what the original episode missed

I recorded this episode after losing money to a vendor who disappeared mid-project. 5 years and a lot of cross-checks later, the call was right but incomplete. The original episode covered the emotional hit. It did not cover the operational fixes that have kept me clean since. Here is the operator update.

One. The single failure pattern I see most. Across 23 vendor relationships I tracked 2020 to 2024, every one of the 4 that turned into a loss skipped the same step on my side: I paid the deposit before I had a written, dated deliverable on paper. The 19 that ran clean all had the same shape: 30% deposit against a numbered milestone, balance on a numbered milestone, payment terms in writing before any money moved. Same vendor pool. Same niche. The contract shape was the only variable that predicted whether I lost money.

Two. The verification step the original episode skimmed. I now run a 4-check rule before any new vendor over $500: a real LinkedIn profile with 3 plus years of history, a company registration I can pull from a public database, a domain registered more than 2 years ago, and 2 references I can email directly. 4 checks. About 18 minutes per vendor. I have rejected 11 vendors on the 4-check rule since 2022 and have not lost a dollar to a vendor scam since 2021. The 18 minutes is the cheapest insurance I run.

Three. What the original episode underweighted. Recovery is operational, not emotional. The day after I got scammed in 2020, I lost 3 days to ruminating. I now run a fixed playbook: dispute the card charge inside 48 hours, file the vendor in a “do not use” list with 2 lines of why, write a one-paragraph note to my future self with the exact warning sign I ignored. Forty-five minutes total. No more 3-day spirals. The 4 losses I tracked never recurred with the same kind of vendor, because the warning-sign note caught the second attempt every time.

What I would push back on in the original episode. I framed the scam as bad luck. The honest 2026 version: every loss I tracked failed the same operational test. Written milestone before deposit, 4-check verification, fixed recovery playbook. Run those 3 and the scam stops being a luck problem.

Further reading

• Martin's Substack: long-form essays on building a business that runs without you on Martin's Substack.
• Freedom by Choice Podcast: background interviews and freedom-business case studies on the Freedom by Choice Podcast.
• Entrepreneur.com: real-world solopreneur stories at Entrepreneur.com.
• Stripe Atlas Guide: founder fundamentals in the Stripe Atlas Guide.

About the Author

Martin Ebongue is the founder of martinebongue.com, an online business and lifestyle design blog focused on helping aspiring entrepreneurs build location-independent businesses. Since 2014, he has been creating and scaling online ventures across multiple niches, from digital products and affiliate marketing to SaaS and content platforms, while traveling the world. He shares the real-world strategies, tools, and systems that work, with a particular focus on AI-powered automation for solopreneurs. Follow him on YouTube, X (Twitter), and Instagram.