I spent thirty years in a sales career. So I know how a pitch is constructed, because building an honest one was my job. That's also why I am able to spot a dishonest one easily. The majority of online scams are just an old pitch in different clothing. Once you know the style, you tend to see it everywhere.

Here are six signs the product or program being pitched to you isn't what it claims to be.

1. Joining is where the money comes from, not from a product

Where does the money actually come from? That's the question you should be asking of any opportunity. If you realise the answer is "from the people who will join after you," then you're not looking at a business. You're looking at a pyramid scheme, plain and simple.

A real business sells something to someone who genuinely wants and needs it. If the only thing being sold is a place in the scheme, the product is you, and the people below you.

2. "100% commission" like money falling from a tree

This one sounds incredibly generous, which is obviously the point. You get to keep 100% of what you bring in. Who wouldn't want that? That's the bait.

Now here's what it actually means. Normal businesses would pay you a cut from the product margin. If there's no product, there's no margin, so there's nothing to pay you from except other people's joining fees. "100% commission" is often the sign that there's no product at all. Or at best, very basic and limited information available anywhere online for free, dressed up as "training."

You keep everything you collect, the person who recruited you kept everything you paid, and the whole thing is joining fees moving onto the next prospect with a friendly label on it.

The word "commission" is doing the same job the word "gift" does. It makes a transfer of money for nothing sound like something it isn't. It's clever, and it will feed on those looking for the "easy money" niche. Newsflash: there isn't one.

3. Cash gifting, a nicer phrase for an illegal pyramid

Let me be blunt about this one, because it is targeting exactly the kind of people who can least afford it.

Is cash gifting illegal? Yes. In both the UK and the US it's a pyramid scheme, and pyramid schemes are against the law. There's no product at all here, not even the flimsy kind. You gift money to join, then you recruit other people to gift money to you. That's the entire model.

The maths in every pyramid scheme is always the same. It will pay the people who got in early and it will collapse when recruitment slows, which it inevitably does. The people who lose are typically the last ones in. And the last ones in are usually the ones who were promised the dream that this was their way out.

If anyone invites you into a program or anything that involves moving money between members with no product, or one that is very basic and limited, don't walk away. Run like hell.

4. Urgency that is manufactured

We've all seen the countdown timers that reset when you reload the page. "Only three spots left" that's been saying three for a month. "Prices go up at midnight," every midnight. The price stays the same, never changes.

In credible, genuine programs from product creators, real scarcity exists. A live cohort will fill up. However, manufactured urgency is designed only to stop you doing the one thing that would save you. Close the tab and think about it for a few days. It's known as FOMO, fear of missing out. I'm sure you've heard the phrase. If a decision can't survive you taking a few days to consider it, you've got your answer.

5. Proof is always a screenshot, never the method

You'll see screenshots of bank balances, screenshots of Stripe dashboards, and lifestyle photos. These will almost certainly be accompanied with the caption "this could be you."

A screenshot can prove money has arrived. It proves nothing though about how it did. And how is the only thing that should matter to you. The big numbers you see in these pitches have come from selling the pitch, which means the method they claim is included in the program and what is being shown are two different methods. Ask to see the workflow, how it was actually achieved, not the amount. The silence tells you all you need to know.

6. Nobody will truly say who it's wrong for

If you're honest about what your offer is, you will say who shouldn't buy it. This isn't for you if you can't put in at least twenty hours a week. This won't work if you're not willing to be uncomfortable in public. That sort of thing. Not worthless nonsense like "if you want it for free."

The thing a scam can't afford to reduce is its audience, because it needs the widest net possible. So it's for "anyone," and it amazingly works "for everybody," and there will be no situation where they'll admit it isn't right for you. That's your biggest warning.

The one habit that beats all six

You need one habit, not a memorised list. When your gut instinct says "this is too good to be true," stop right there and ask where the money really comes from and who this program is wrong for. Those two questions will probably dismantle every scam on this list.

That instinct you get, the small nagging feeling that something's not as it's promised, is usually right. It's been trying to tell you something. The whole point is to avoid the anger and frustration later, and to listen to your instinct before you hand over the money, not after.

If this was useful, there's more where it came from.

The online world, minus the noise. What's real and what isn't.