Online scams feel like something that happened to other people, not you. You’ve seen the AI-generated fitness transformation video, the one where the old man gets completely jacked in a few months, and you watched it twice. Maybe three times. You knew it was fake. And then you thought: but what if it isn’t?

What does it feel like when the thing you reach for to feel better is the same thing making you feel worse? Social media is where the anxiety lives, and it is also where people go to treat it. The looks maxer movement promising jaw ratios and an Adonis body in 15 minutes a day is Charles Atlas from the 1930s, just cranked up. The NFT that lost 90% of its value in two years is the money-making machine from the comic book, except at least with the comic book version, you got your dollar back.

The bait and switch works because it harnesses your optimism against you. You are not the customer for the online casino or the phone game that claims to pay you to play. You are the product. Understanding that one shift changes everything about how you scroll.

Topics: online scams, bait and switch, social media manipulation, looks maxer movement, media literacy

GUEST: Nathan Radke | @‌theuncoverup

Originally aired on2026-03-02