10 Ways Dating Coaches Try To Scam You
Every year, new pickup coaches emerge from the pickup artist industry, often with little to no virtual presence. Many men who want to learn how to meet and attract women have run into the same problem… Getting scammed by a self-proclaimed ‘dating coach’.
A member of the Game Global community messaged me recently, informing me of his disappointment in a certain American pickup coach. This inspired the member to put together this guide in collaboration with Game Global, to warn others of various scams and unprofessional red flags to look out for when choosing to hire a dating coach.
Report Pickup Coach Scams
If you have been scammed by a dating coach or pickup coach in the seduction industry, report it.
Feel free to reach out to Ice White via Telegram, Facebook or Instagram to ask about any particular dating coaches you are interested in taking up coaching with. Over the years, Game Global has received hundreds of pieces of evidence about dozens of dating coaches in the industry.
Screening For A Good Dating Coach
Below is a mini-guide for students to screen for good coaches, written by a Game Global community member (In blue) who experienced a dating coach scam.
What makes a pickup coach legit? 4 things.
- Good game.
- Good coaching.
- Punctual, consistent, and professional.
- Good moral character.
If they lack even just 1 of these 4 traits, it won’t work. They must have all 4.
It doesn’t matter how good, famous, or popular the coach is. You’re paying for a product/service, and the dating coach needs to deliver.
Students need to stop the hero worship and hold these coaches accountable to actually deliver their product/service. I’m about to tell you some of the experiences me and my friends have had with some popular coaches. I won’t say names. I’ll just describe the unacceptable behavior from some of these coaches.
They don’t treat this like a real business. They think they can be lazy, have low integrity, and get away with anything. And they usually do get away with it because their students don’t hold them accountable. So here goes a list of completely unacceptable things I’ve seen and heard of. If you see these things, hold the coach accountable. No more free passes. Don’t pay money for a service that isn’t being delivered.
1. The Dating Coach Is Constantly Late Or Keeps Flaking
I’ve seen this in paid mastermind groups. He doesn’t even give proper notice ahead of time or do anything to make it right. Just completely disrespects your time, money, and energy like it’s no big deal. When you respectfully tell him that you expect him to actually show up to the calls that you’re paying for… He bans you for ‘being negative’.
When the dating coach is constantly late to scheduled calls or doesn’t even show up, that’s a red flag.
A dating coach should be on time to his or her own classes, seminars, meetings or calls. Unless there is a very genuine excuse, such as technical issues or travel issues, there is no excuse for a dating coach to fail to turn up on time. If there is any inconvenience, then a dating coach should make up for it in a very fair manner by either compensating the students financially or rescheduling the coaching call.
2. The Dating Coach Is Late For His Own Bootcamp
The student pays for the bootcamp, plus the flight, hotel, food, Uber rides, and whatever else. The coach shows up 2 hours late to the scheduled game session like it’s no big deal. No proper notice ahead of time. And he doesn’t do anything to make it right to the student. No discount, no extra time, nothing. The most extreme example of this was a coach showing up a day late for a bootcamp… So it turned the 3 day bootcamp into a 2 day bootcamp. The student asked for a partial refund due to the day missed. The coach agreed, but took over a year to send the partial refund. In the meantime, he was blowing tons of money on tattoos and other things.
When the dating coach is late to his own scheduled game sessions on his own bootcamp, that’s a red flag.
It is said that time is money. So if a pickup coach doesn’t respect your time, he doesn’t respect your money. While Coaching Day sessions are made very affordable, bootcamps are often priced in the thousands of dollars. Nobody wants to pay thousands of dollars for something that doesn’t turn out as planned.
3. The Dating Coach Has Too Many Students On A Bootcamp
Bootcamps should have a strict 3:1 student to coach ratio. I’ve seen coaches pack bootcamps with 5+ students. How the fuck can 1 person coach 5+ people at the same time? Sometimes these packed bootcamps will have assistant coaches to balance out the ratio. If the assistant coaches are legit and the students are aware of this dynamic ahead of time, no problem. But the students are usually not made aware of this dynamic ahead of time. Bait and switch tactics, lack of transparency. The student signs up under the premise that they will be getting coaching from the main coach and then they are handed over to an assistant coach. And while the main coach himself may be legit, his ‘assistant coaches’ are usually trash.
I’ve seen ‘assistant coaches’ that have very low game skills. And I’ve seen ‘assistant coaches’ that have good game but lack coaching ability… Naturals that say dumb shit like ‘just be confident bro’. And their fundamental understanding of game or coaching ability doesn’t go any deeper than that. In both scenarios, neither of these guys have any business coaching. Imagine paying money to get coaching from the main coach and then being handed over to one of his ‘assistant coaches’ in a bait and switch fashion that lacks transparency. Not acceptable.
When the pickup coach packs his bootcamp with too many students, that’s a red flag.
It isn’t physically possible for a human to watch so many different social interactions at the same time and provide consistent genuine feedback. Some coaches have assistant coaches to ‘help out’. But ultimately, students tend to sign up to bootcamps based on who they expect to actually be teaching and guiding them.
4. The Bootcamp Is All Talk & No Action
The bootcamp isn’t bootcamp. I’ve seen and heard of ‘bootcamps’ where they do everything but talk to hot women. They’re working out, they’re meditating, whatever else. That’s bullshit. You can do all of that shit on your own time. A pickup bootcamp is for doing pickup. It’s an intense and immersive experience where you eat, breathe, and sleep pickup for the entire bootcamp. No time for anything else. You’re there to maximize your game skills and get a return on investment. 20% of the time should be a game plan before the sessions and debriefs after the sessions. 80% of the time should be in the field talking to hot women. And I’ve seen and heard of bootcamps that completely lack structure or time management. The coach just carelessly wings it as he goes. No game plan, no sense of urgency to maximize time.
When the bootcamp involves everything but actually talking to hot women, that’s a red flag.
The concept of a bootcamp was designed to actually have a pickup coach take pickup artists into the field for some day game or night game, in order to meet numerous women in whichever environment to learn the social dynamics of seduction. A bootcamp that doesn’t include this core activity is not a bootcamp.
5. The Dating Coach Is Lazy & Apathetic
Plenty of stories of coaches in their masterminds or on their bootcamps just being straight up lazy and not giving a shit about their students. Being aloof, barely showing up, not paying attention to their students, not being engaged, disappearing often. He’ll spend more time just hanging out, talking to friends, gaming his own chicks, and watching TV than coaching the students. When he does coach, it’ll be very lazy. Just telling the student, ‘go talk to that girl’ and ‘be confident’.
When the dating coach is lazy and lacks interest or passion in what is going on, that’s a red flag.
A dating coach needs to have his head in the game in order to teach game in the first place. The coach should be able to help others break out of approach anxiety, rather than giving students more anxiety.
6. The Dating Coach Uses False Advertising
The coach does false advertisement: Bait and switch tactics. Promoting their mastermind/bootcamp as if it will be with the main coach. The student signs up under that premise. And then the mastermind calls or bootcamp is with their assistant coaches most of the time… Maybe even the entire time. Most of the time, the assistant coaches are trash. But even if the assistant coaches are legit… It’s still deceptive practices. In addition to this… There’s usually false promises that don’t get delivered. If politely confronted about it, the coach just gaslights the students.
When the dating coach falsely advertises bootcamps, courses, programs or communities, that’s a red flag.
Some dating coaches have made wild claims over the years, promising all kinds of things, only for their clients to realize that they have been fed false promises and lies. Some dating coaches have even promised that their clients will get laid, then hiring prostitutes to have sex with the client out of the money the client paid for the bootcamp to fulfil their ‘guarantee’ when the client hadn’t experienced any success.
7. The Dating Coach Has Constant Upsells
Upsells aren’t always bad. In fact, they can be very good. I have no problem with upsells. But make sure you deliver on the first product or service before you try to sell the next one. I’ve seen and heard of coaches getting students to buy a product or service, and then that product or service is mostly just an upsell for their next product or service. So on and so forth.
When the dating coach persistently keeps trying to upsell another product or service after you had already paid for one, that’s a red flag.
Paying for a service or product only to experience no real results is frustrating. But sometimes dating coaches can use this as an opportunity to sell you something else, under the premise that it either simply doesn’t work for you or because ‘you’re doing it wrong’ and therefore you ‘need more coaching’.
8. The Dating Coach Lacks Gratitude
The coach lacks gratitude for his students… Complains if a potential student wants to have a phone conversation before buying his product or service. Says that the student is ‘bitching’ if he holds the coach accountable for not delivering the product or service.
When the dating coach gets frustrated with you over a sale, that’s a red flag.
Some dating coaches will use pressure tactics to make sales, treating their sales funnel as the only true goal rather than the coaching outcome itself. Dating coaches who use pressure tactics to make sales probably use similar unethical pressure tactics with women to get laid. If a dating coach is desperate for a sale, just imagine how desperate that dating coach gets for sex with a woman.
9. The Dating Coach Gaslights His Students
The coach gaslights his students… If a student politely calls him out for not delivering the product or service, he flips the script. He acts as if it’s somehow the student’s fault that he can’t do his job, and says the student is ‘too negative’ or some other bullshit.
When the dating coach blames the student, that’s a red flag.
Students shouldn’t be blamed for the incompetence of the dating coach. Coaching men how to date women should be taken as a responsibility.
10. The Dating Coach Has A Horrible Refund Policy
I see both sides here. And I think a refund policy should be fair to the students and coaches. There are bad students and coaches. There are some students that will take advantage of a refund policy even if the coach did a great job. And coaches need to protect themselves against these scumbags. At the same time, some coaches will deliver a horrible service and then refuse to give a refund. They will make it very difficult to get the refund. And if they ever do give the refund, it will probably come with shaming and banning. Even if the coach was completely in the wrong.
When the dating coach has a very strict refund policy or delays refunds for weeks or months, that’s a red flag.
I have received many reports over the years of several particular dating coaches who have refused to give refunds to their clients when they didn’t even provide the service that the client paid for. But something that I didn’t even expect to uncover was the amount of coaches giving people the runaround, stringing them along by saying they will give a refund, only to constantly delay that refund each time they are chased up about it by their former clients. In some cases, I have even seen so-called dating coaches completely ghost clients who had given them $30,000 or more for a service that was never delivered. In other cases, I have seen dating coaches being chased for refunds for well over a year for a bootcamp that the coach didn’t even turn up to. This all gives the pickup artist and dating coaching industries a bad name.
Bonus: Quick Tip To Avoid Being Scammed By Pickup Coaches
Sam Overton recommends asking dating coaches the following question to filter out unqualified dating coaches:
‘Do you have anyone I can talk to that you have worked with in the past?’
The dating coach should be able to provide genuine testimonials from genuine former clients, otherwise he is not a genuine dating coach. Simply connecting with a former client of the coach can help you determine if the coach is relevant to your needs and is worthy of your time and money.
Final Thoughts
Final thoughts from the Game Global community member who provided these tips:
These 10 things are some of the most common scam tactics to be aware of ahead of time. Do your best to proactively avoid any coach that engages in this. If you see your coach start to engage in any of these scam tactics, be polite/respectful, but at the same time, be assertive. Let him know that you are not paying for this. If he continues with the bullshit, end the coaching. The pickup community needs to vote with our wallets. Hold these coaches accountable and be willing to walk away if they don’t deliver their product/service. This is the only way to have quality control in the industry.
If you do run into issues, consider reporting the dating coach you have had problems with.
See the following resources that have the approval of the pickup artist community:
- Community Bootcamps
- Top 20 Seduction Books Of All Time
- Greatest Pickup Artists Of All Time
- Best Pickup Artist 2024
- Best Pickup Artist 2023
Bootcamps By Vetted Dating Coaches
Over the years, Game Global has vetted dating coaches and dating coaching companies who provide bootcamps. The Community Bootcamps Map above is updated weekly, displaying only trusted bootcamp providers in collaboration with Game Global.
You can rest assured that any bootcamp you choose from the map above is proudly recommended by Game Global, and run by a reliable and genuine dating coach.
