[Heo Young-ju Column] Success-Selling YouTuber Scam Controversy

YouTube Comment & View Count Manipulation Case
Scam Tactics Starting with 'Allure'
Continuing with Promises of Salvation
A Money-Making Scheme that Exploits Insecurities

“I was a poor, introverted loser. But now I'm successful, living in a Han River view apartment in my 30s and driving a Porsche. If you just follow me, anyone can earn 10 million won a month.”

So-called 'success-selling' YouTubers who have been selling lectures and consulting services by conveying such messages are facing a crisis. 'Success-selling' refers to individuals who exaggerate or fabricate their success stories to sell lectures, ebooks, and other products.

The cause of their crisis lies in the 'inflated or unverified numbers.' Some people demanded Hometax (Korean tax office) verification for unverified numbers such as '10 million won per month, 50 million won net profit, 20 billion won sale,' and the incident began with a lack of response to this demand, along with testimonies that these numbers were false.

The case of a YouTuber who mainly talked about the success story of small business owners manipulating 'Naver Cafe comments & view counts' also became a catalyst. He was considered a trustworthy figure among successful YouTubers, even being called the 'Baek Jong-won of the YouTube world' and appearing on broadcast programs. However, as it was revealed that he inflated the sale price and manipulated 'Naver Cafe comments & view counts,' the overall trust in this type of YouTuber began to crumble.

Not all YouTubers related to success have problems. However, the issue with problematic YouTubers is that they gathered people using the trigger of 'money,' but the 'money' they talked about was false numbers. It can be considered a scam.

The first step of a scam, as always, begins with 'allure.'

Allure often involves 'images' of success, such as nice houses and cars. These are usually not their possessions. They often manipulate their image by 'short-term rentals or leasing' to allure people.

And they promise 'salvation' in their own unique way. In the case of success-selling, they whisper sweet nothings that anyone can achieve success by reading ebooks, attending consulting sessions, performing specific actions daily, and putting them into practice.

Success-selling YouTubers have followers who worship them, similar to a cult. What is the psychology behind people who follow them, buying content from 'success-sellers' that is more expensive than books by Warren Buffett or Bill Gates, who are considered the most successful?

First, these individuals have a 'strong desire for easy and quick success.' If they are desperate for success, they inevitably want it to happen 'quickly.' Success-selling YouTubers talk about fast achievement, like 'I guarantee you'll make 10 million won a month in three months,' making this path seem easy and giving them the feeling that they can do it too.

When someone is desperate, they are easily exploited. The 10 million won a month in three months they talk about is not a 'sustainable' income. They use numbers that can be achieved occasionally to lure those who are desperate and make them pay a high price.

Another psychological aspect of those who follow success-selling is their 'insecurity about where to go.' Success-selling defines success solely in terms of money. And they say it's the solution to everything. For those who are insecure about where to go, the easy and quick solution of <Money=Success in Life> is bound to be attractive.

I believe that the message of <Money=Success in Life> inherent in 'success-selling' itself can be harmful to our society. Of course, money can be an indicator of success. However, we must be wary of messages that define 'success' solely in terms of money.

Success can be defined in various ways depending on one's values and goals. It's generally defined as achieving a goal or obtaining a desired outcome, but this can vary from person to person.

For some, professional achievement might be success, while for others, maintaining a happy family life might be considered success. Also, a life where you maximize your talents to serve others can also be a form of success.

While success can be interpreted differently based on individual values and goals, most success-selling content defines success solely as 'money' and classifies those who haven't achieved it as 'failures,' which can be problematic.

If teenagers in their 10s and 20s, whose values are still forming, are exposed to the message that success is solely about money and poverty is failure, the society they enter will be a truly sick one.

In 2021, the Pew Research Center, a US public opinion research organization, surveyed 19,000 adults in 17 advanced countries, including Korea, on 'what makes life meaningful.' In 14 out of the 17 surveyed countries, 'family and children' were ranked first. The countries that did not rank family first were Spain, Taiwan, and Korea, with Spain choosing health, Taiwan choosing society, and Korea choosing 'material wealth' as the top priority.

Korea was the only country that ranked material wealth as the top priority. This survey suggests that our society is excessively focused on financial success compared to the desire for 'family' or 'personal achievement and self-realization'.

Along with the eradication of diverse values, a culture that solely views 'money' as a measure of success bears some responsibility for Korea ranking first in suicide rates and last in birthrates among major OECD advanced countries.

What are people's reactions to the 'decline of success-selling'? Looking at comments, many opinions stated that 'the biggest harm is the devaluation of labor.'

Another opinion was that 'it's just an issue, not a decline,' and the most surprising response was 'success-selling debunkers are quite malicious.' He pointed out that 'they intentionally pick fights with success-sellers to attract views, creating extremely provocative content and justifying their actions as doing something righteous.'

While manipulating numbers and deceiving consumers is reprehensible, publicly exposing their privacy or driving them to ruin by violating their portrait rights is not a good solution.

No matter how much debunkers try to criticize and bring them down, 'success-selling' will not disappear. This is because our 'desire to make money quickly and easily' will not vanish. When there's high demand, supply cannot dry up.

It's time to redefine the meaning of success based on individual values and goals. I would like to suggest one thing to the readers of this article. Define 'your own success,' not based on standards set by others or money.

To me, success is "doing what I love with the people I love, feeling healthy and abundant, being satisfied with life, feeling joy every day, and living a life with my own story."

Let's think about what kind of life we truly want to live and what values we want to pursue, and define 'our own success.'

※ The author of this article is the original writer andan article contributed to the Woman Economy Newspaperhas been moved here.