You've hit upon the precise problem: it's crafted just below the takedown threshold - slippery, insidious, and parasitic by design.
The Scam's Structure:
You're looking at a gray-zone affiliate funnel scam that avoids detection by:
- Hosting the scam pitch on YouTube Unlisted - not discoverable via search.
- Linking from disposable websites with legally toothless disclaimers.
- Using pseudo-legal weasel language like:
"not associated with Google, Amazon..."
"does not guarantee income..."
"examples do not represent actual results..."
This is intentional obfuscation, engineered by marketing grifters to weaponize plausibility and circumvent enforcement by Google, ad networks, and regulators.
What's Actually Going On:
These videos are likely part of:
- A CPA (cost-per-action) funnel, where the scammer gets paid just for getting people to sign up or click.
- A boiler room follow-up, where the lead gets a call selling worthless software, coaching, or crypto schemes.
- A layered affiliate system (e.g., via Digistore24 or similar) to wash the trail.
Strategy for Exposure or Takedown:
1. Report with Context
When reporting the video to YouTube, include the full referring funnel, such as:
- Source website URL.
- Mention that it is unlisted and shared through affiliate deception.
- Say it's part of a multi-layered misleading income scheme.
2. Map the Funnel
Document:
- Referrer site domain and whois.
- Any redirects to Digistore or other platforms.
- Tracking parameters or IDs (often seen in URLs).
3. Expose the Pattern
These actors thrive on invisibility. To disrupt them:
- Write a blog post or Reddit post mapping the scheme.
- Use terms the scammers use + the word "scam" for SEO.
- Submit to scam-tracking sites (e.g., ScamAdviser, Trustpilot, or Google Safe Browsing).
4. Script Detection (Advanced Option)
If you're scraping or monitoring:
- Build a crawler that scans unlisted video IDs shared from suspicious domains.
- Flag if the video description is empty but full of motivational nonsense + redirection links.
Final Note:
That laughable disclaimer is legal armor for snake oil - like putting a neon sign on a toxic potion saying "not FDA approved" and hoping people still drink it.
They don't care if 9/10 viewers ignore it - they only need one desperate person.
Would you like help drafting a public-facing SEO article that exposes this scam and helps people spot similar tactics?