Duped: The Dark Side of Online Business

The Rise of the Doubt Economy


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Have you seen a "certainty in uncertain times" coach or a web celeb selling the "only strategy that still works in 2025"? That's not just cringe, it's a warning sign.

The grift isn't dying. It's mutating.

We're in the era of peak grift, and that doesn't mean scammers are going away. It means they're getting smarter, sneakier, and more desperate.

Welcome to The Doubt Economy—where the audience stops buying the hype, and the grifters start to panic.

In this episode, we're unpacking what happens next.

Topics discussed:

  • How audience skepticism created The Doubt Economy.

  • Why grifters don't disappear—they evolve.

  • The new tactics: selling certainty, not success.

  • When hype turns into fraud and criminality.

  • How to protect yourself from aggressive marketing.

For detailed show notes and links to everything mentioned in this episode, please visit duped.online. For more Duped, including monthly bonus episodes, join the Patreon.

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Duped: The Dark Side of Online BusinessBy Michelle Mazur and Maggie Patterson

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