A Healthy Ride to Wealth


An Apple A Day Keeps The Doctor Away

Have you ever tasted an apple directly from the tree?

These are so delicious!!! That’s nothing to do with those we buy at the supermarket, right?

Its glamorous, lightly acid-sweet taste combined with the firm flesh and crispness of the freshly picked fruit, is comforting us for weeks.

I tell you this because around here it’s apple season and families gather happily in the orchards to collect their annual bags of this renowned red-colored fruit called apple.

The show is beautiful too.

Children are excited, parents have their quality time, and pappy wants to prove to himself he’s still young by climbing on the first branches to capture the higher, more colored apples, while mommy is yelling at him to cease doing the child.

A beautiful time in the season it is indeed.

I think the worst likely thing that can happen in an orchard like this is when you step on a rotten apple that is being eaten by wasps…

You quickly find – and feel – that wasps aren’t really caring about who you are and what you do. You are stepping and smashing their lunch so they are not happy about it and they let you know.

This perfect scenery introduces the subject of this week’s post…

This week I want to talk about the wasps on TikTok, those with “rotten businesses”, especially designed for you to step onto so that they could better sting you!

A legend says that the great mathematician and physicist Sir Isaac Newton came with his theory of gravitation when he received on the head an apple falling from the tree under where he was taking a rest.

I think I’ve learned more about gravity trying to grow my followers on TikTok than the time I passed learning Newton’s equations in high school.

It’s becoming crazy the number of copied content, fake accounts, and solicitations I receive since I started posting videos on this platform.

Not that I dislike TikTok, I still continue to think it’s a good strategy for generating organic traffic, but I think they could make a little more against this plague.

Those businesses held by wasps – what I called “trolls” in a previous post – are also producing scam and have phishing-like activities in their business model.

Like Evil Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, they offer their best, well-looking, apples to better scam you. These apples are good looking at first but internally they are as rotten as their business. Eat just one and you may fall deeply asleep, making an opportunity for them to steal a lot of money from you before you awake and realize it!

Let me tell you my own version of Snow White.

It was somewhere around Friday the 4th, I was preparing a new post on TikTok when I received a comment from someone asking if we could get friend and reach in private because he had a request for me.

Curious, I went to look at their profile. Looks like it was an artist painter.

The profile picture represents the drawing of a young woman so it would be appropriate to suppose it’s a woman. For the present purpose, let’s call her the Evil Queen… No! I got better!

Let’s call her Maleficent!

There were 3 portrait paintings in her TikTok vault (account). Two were actual women’s photographs with their equivalent portrait in acrylic painting, and the last one was a dog with it’s portrait painting too. Her Kingdom counts over 180 servants (followers).

At first look, for me it was a legit account, so I manage to know more about my new guest demand, Maleficent.

Soon I received a direct message and it reads like this:

-Maleficent: “I really like your profile and your posts, and if you let me, I would make such an amazing mural out of it! If you don’t mind one of your post could be my inspiring muse for an art project I’m working on for a client. You will totally get paid for it as well as a bonus also get credits.”

I was smelling the bribe here so I responded:

-“Oh you’re an artist! Cool! You can take the post, I don’t need to get paid.”

If Maleficent wasn’t going to accept my offer, it would mean there was something more hidden in her twisted mind.

Indeed:

-Maleficent: “It written in the law you have to be paid”

-“lol 😂 which law? Everything is public domain here unless you make your account private”

-Maleficent: “But it good to take permission that what lead to the payment”

-“Yes and I give you my permission. 😀”

Straight then I new it wasn’t the answer she was waiting for so she began to lose her patience:

-Maleficent: “Okay can I brief?”

-“Yes”, I said.

-Maleficent: “Am a artist who work for Cl that love art each pay for a drawing and I will get paid too for painting you. I did this for money and passion that I will be somewhere bigger than where am now. Hope you understand.”

-“Yes I understand it’s a legit business you have.”

-Maleficent: “So if you are not getting paid am not also but if you love to get paid you can pay me instead”

What??? I was trying to understand what she meant by that…

-“So I pay you for producing a painting that you sell to your client and then, depending on how much the sale was, you give me a commission, right?”

I was thinking what kind of business can have a model based on “I pay for something that’s sold to someone else with a profit margin and then I would get back my money plus a commission provided the thing was sold higher than the price I pay for or something like that”.🧐

This smells the scam at full nose…

I must admit, even now I still not totally understand this twist. Without me having to pay for it, I could instead just be paid a commission for having given so willingly one of my valuable video creation and that would have been a more legit compromise..

I responded:

– “No, I’m sorry, too much risk”

She insisted:

– Maleficent: “There not like risk it up to you to trust me. The world is all about karma and I do believe in it because anything you do to your fellow human beings shall be return to you either good or bad”

Yeah, tell this to TikTok’s investors to know what they think…

But then, I suddenly have the bad idea that it could be fine to have one of her acrylic painting picture inside my blog. I could put the artist name and link under it so people that like the painting could go see the artist’s portfolio and I could take an agreement on a small commission with every painting sold.

So I started almost to wish she was legit.

Now that I was a bit more motivated, I wanted to find out once for all if my interlocutor was a real artist or just a real scammer wasp.

So I asked:

-“I believe so…where are you from ?”

-Maleficent: “Canada”

-“Which province?”

-Maleficent: “Saskatchewan”

-“I’ve no doubt you must be very good, but the fact is I don’t know you and for me trusting people on TikTok is kind of risky. I have to decline your offer.”

In fact, I wanted that she proves me she is a real artist.

-Maleficent: “Give it a trial but hold can I ask a question? If you don’t mind I will love to ask how much did you plan to pay?”

There are other ways to prove the legitimacy of a business than “give me money and then you’ll see…”. So I answered:

-“I didn’t plan to pay anything 🙂”

-Maleficent: “So all way a joke”

-“That was you who offered me money first remember?”

That was it for the day. She tried some good morning and a cute emoji the other days but I ghosted her.

It was October 8th when she wrote:

-Maleficent: “Am trying my best to be good I haven’t seen customer for some days I don’t know if you can help me. Nothing is small you can give me $10 or anything Martin”

-“🙃Sorry but I don’t give money online and this 10$ is for my lunch tomorrow.”

This is true. I don’t give money online and especially to someone I don’t know and, furthermore, for something I didn’t ask.

She replied:

-“If am close to you I can actually come over am serious about that you know I told you I do this for my family. I know you did not truth anybody online but there no way we can see each other.”

-“You sound true… “, I said.

Wait. Am I dropping my defense? Well, at this stage I wasn’t convinced yet about the legitimacy of my new friend so I asked:

-“What’s your name?”

-Maleficent: “Vincent Morin”

What??? You have to know that this is a very common French-Canadian male name, or to be more accurate, a name we usually mostly find in the Province of Quebec.

So immediately I asked:

-“Hi Vincent, nice to meet you. Do you speak french?”

After a 30min delay, she or he (I don’t know) responded:

-“No I can’t”

-“Ha? But you have a typical French-Canadian name?”

-Maleficent: “Yes am from Canada but am not too good at the French”

Based on Google, it’s about 1.6% of the population in Saskatchewan that have French as their native language. Based on this, it’s no surprise for everyone that Maleficent doesn’t speak french. However, for a French-Canadian like me, there’s a serious mismatch when someone whose name is “Vincent Morin” said he don’t speak french.

So I asked Google to find a Vincent Morin living in Canada and what I found helped me score another point in favor of my suspicions.

I found that there is a Vincent Morin having a business not very far from where I live and you guess what kind of business he has?

Well, he’s an artist-painter…😮

I found his website and saw his awesome creations. These are of a very different style than those I found in Maleficent’s vault. Nevertheless, I wrote an email in french asking if he was the person to whom I was communicating with on TikTok. His answer came rapidly and it was… negative.

He wasn’t even on TikTok.😒

In the meanwhile, Maleficent asked:

-“What are you up to today? I thought you are going give me some fund”

I said:

-“I pass. you’re not what you’re pretending you are”

-Maleficent: “How can you tell am pretending ? Are you on snap” (She probably wanted to ask “are you on SnapChat”)

-“Your name is not Vincent Morin.”

-Maleficent: “Why did you say so ?”

-“Vincent Morin is an artist I know living in Montreal. Do you know where is Montreal?”

-Maleficent: “Am not a artist in Montreal. Am from Saskatchewan”

-“English is not even your native language”

Based on how she writes this can easily be seen.

-Maleficent: “If you don’t wish to give me money please don’t worry. I wasn’t born in Canada 🇨🇦. Nothing I want to say will be true to you because all you thinking i want to scam you”

-“How come then your name is Vincent and by a strange coincidence there is the same guy here being artist painter”

-Maleficent: “Other are getting scam of $100 $1000 so you mean am trying scam you for just $10 or $20 😂😭. Just because of my kid at home that why. lol so you trying say am him”

-“Because you say so”

-Maleficent: “I have my id with me. You just too scared and I don’t know why. A scammer page can last long online. Are you helping or not if not for my kids I won’t ask for it?”

On this I took a pause. Maybe she was true. Up to now, I don’t have the ultimate proof yet. Maybe that I’m just too scared, so I’m reacting negatively to everything she says. Maybe she has good intentions after all…

The next day, on October 10th, she was the first to broke the ice with a “Hello Mr Martin”.

On this I responded “Hello” and managed to enter her vault. The only thing I had in mind was to find THE proof. An ultimate proof she couldn’t deny.

I was again surprised that, for an artist, she has only 3 paints and not more? Usually, an artist wanting to promote his business will have at least an entire portfolio to show? So I asked:

-“Do you have a portfolio?”

-Maleficent: “Yeah”

-“You should show it on your account, it would be nice to see more of your paints”

-Maleficent: “Show it in my account give scammer more to get about myself and scam other”

On this I attacked:

-“Why did you lie telling your name was Vincent Morin? You’ve made a big mistake there.”

-Maleficent: “Okay”

-“You said you do this for your kids but there are better ways to do it. It remains it is scam and scam is not acceptable. Find another fish.”

-Maleficent “What fish?”

Then I made a Google search on one of her paints and find out it was inside many places not very legit online like fake Instagram accounts of some other self-declared artists. Nothing to do with Vincent Morin who is a professional. Also her profile picture was taken similarly from someone else online.

I wrote: “A simple research shows your pictures are from someone else on Instagram.”

From then on, I got no other DM from Maleficent.

THE END

So let’s conclude this story by summarizing what elements we have:

  • Maleficent started by an offer to better asked me money;
  • Her business model makes no sense;
  • She told her name was Vincent Morin, a well known artist and illustrator from Montreal, that has many customers in the media and movie industries;
  • She was born outside Canada and was given a French-Canadian name, doesn’t speak French, and without any French-Canadian relatives otherwise, she would have told me;
  • From the above, and with high probability, I can tell she lied on her name;
  • She has only 3 posts in her account, which is low for someone pretending to be an artist that love paints and that want to make the promotion of his business;
  • The pictures were most likely taken from deviant accounts. I found two of the three pictures in deviantart.com.

Now tell me, do you think Maleficent was a scammer? You are the judge. You can write what you think in the comment section below.

The morale to this story: don’t accept direct messages (DM) unless you ask for it. This is a source of distraction that will make you waste your time and lead you to write a blog post to justify the wasted time. 😉

And of course: never send money or accept to receive money from an unknown person on social media. Chances that you step on a smashed apple contaminated by wasps is great.

An affiliate marketer develop trust with effort and time spent through establishing true relationships with his audience. A wasp doesn’t even care about trust. He doesn’t care about you at all. Most often, there is a matter of urgency in his words.

If I tell you I’m not a scammer, I don’t want you to believe me immediately. It’s through my actions and experience with my content that you will best make your opinion. At some point, you will find that I truly want and work for the best interests of my audience.

Be critical, make your research, an build your opinion. That’s the advice I wanted to give you this week.

Take care.

Martin

P.S. Subscribe to my Newsletter if you didn’t do it yet. If you come as a subscriber from my Facebook lead ad campaign, you don’t have to do so because you will automatically be registered at the end of my welcoming email sequence. Don’t be afraid, my links are not contaminated with wasps.

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11 Responses to “An Apple A Day Keeps The Doctor Away”

  1. Sarah Goulding Avatar
    Sarah Goulding

    Loved this post! It’s such a fun mix of storytelling, a little apple nostalgia, and some great advice about being cautious online! Totally agree – biting into a scam is like biting into a rotten apple, and no one wants that. Your “Maleficent” experience had me laughing and cringing at the same time – what a rollercoaster!

    PS: Totally with you on the wasps. Both the real ones and the ones online! Great reminder to trust actions, not just words. Keep those awesome posts coming!

  2. Atif Perwiz Avatar

    Hi Martin,

    I really enjoyed your post! Your description of apple picking brings back such warm memories. I completely agree—tasting an apple straight from the tree is a world away from the ones in the supermarket. Your storytelling makes me wish I could experience that joyful family moment in the orchard.

    I also learned a lot from your encounter with “Maleficent.” It’s a great reminder to be cautious about who we engage with online. Like you, I’ve noticed how many scammers there are on platforms like TikTok. Your comparison of these scammers to wasps is spot on! It’s essential to be careful where we step, just like avoiding those rotten apples.

    Your experience taught me to always verify before trusting someone online, just as you did with Maleficent. It’s vital to build genuine connections in our online businesses, rather than getting caught up with those who are only looking to take advantage of us.

    Thank you for sharing this valuable lesson and for inspiring others to be more critical of their online interactions. I wish you all the best in your business and hope your blog continues to thrive!

    Atif

    1. Martin Lefebvre Avatar

      Hello Atif! On social medias, we have to be critical with everything. Scammers use often the urgency factor. They want to precipitate you so that you don’t take the time to think. They work by creating fears and doubts in your mind. Always be aware of that. Don’t ever believe someone who said you win a contest without even having participated. That is, don’t give your personal info to anyone online. On this advice, thanks for reading and take care.

  3. Meredith Moore Avatar

    Hi Martin,

    What a fun and colorful story! Your description of apple season and family gatherings at the orchard makes it feel magical. I can almost hear the kids laughing and the parents joking around.

    Then, you smoothly connected your story to your TikTok experience, comparing the tricky “wasps” to the joy of picking apples. It’s a great reminder to be careful of shiny distractions that might lead us away from what’s good, just like those tempting but rotten apples.

    Your experience with “Maleficent” is interesting and a little scary! It’s impressive how you spotted the warning signs, showing how important it is to be careful and trust your instincts online. Thanks for sharing this story, it mixes happy memories with useful advice perfectly!

    Keep up the awesome work!

    Meredith

    1. Martin Lefebvre Avatar

      Thank you Meredith! I’m glad you appreciated. Apple season and going in the orchards to pick up some apple is really a fun activity, especially if you have young children. And the apples are at their freshest. Like I said, these are nothing to do with those you bought at the supermarket. And I remember when I was a young kid, oranges in Florida were so tasty that each time I went to Florida, I rediscovered the true taste of an orange fruit. This experience with Maleficent is scary because we know there are people who fall in the trap. Awareness, is my weapon against it.

  4. Scott Rulon Avatar

    I will say I can almost taste the apples. We don’t get the freshest in Arizona. I must say I am a bit confused on what this artist is trying to accomplish here. So buyer beware. Nice you were aware of the scam.

    1. Martin Lefebvre Avatar

      Hi Scott, I was aware of the scam because I could smell the rotten apple. I don’t usually accept or answer DM.

  5. Ernie Avatar

    Martin – I was so intrigued by this story. I can only imagine the apples, the taste and the experience that you had going through an orchard. I have had the same experience a few times myself. And yes, the wasps are a real thing. Your story is a great illustration on what to do and how to be diligent in avoiding the wasps that are out there trying to gain our attention and take advantage of the situation. Whether a scam or not, it is so important to be cautious and to do due diligence in investigating rather than jumping into something. What a great read and a great lesson!

    1. Martin Lefebvre Avatar

      Yes it’s important strengthen or vigilance and be aware of the different tricks and pitfalls one can face on social medias. Now I heard from police here there was another kind of ransom phishing. Wasps send an informed email or message on social medias to better trap you. They collect information from your social media account and they use it against you.
      Never give money to them even if they threaten you of divulging your “secrets” to all your contacts! They have nothing more than what you write about yourself on social medias. Stay safe!

  6. Marc Avatar

    Hi Martin,
    Great blog entry and yes, we definitely need to be ever so careful when dealing with online requests such as the one you so nicely provided here.
    You reminded me of a similar situations a few years back, the internet wasn’t as “developed” as it is today, (I’d say there were more scams back then) anyways, I was contacted to do voice-over work, transfer money and get paid double the amount I was asked.
    So I told my new “friend”, not only do you want money from me but you also want me to do work for you? Wow, that was a new one!
    Anyways, you are so right, we need to be vigilant; with AI now in the fold, we will need all of our attention to make sure we’re not another scammed statistic! Well done!

    1. Martin Lefebvre Avatar

      Your “friend” had about the same business model as my wasp here. 😂 It impress me how committed they can be in running their rotten business. There should be a market for it otherwise they wouldn’t make such amount of efforts on stupid model like that.

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