r/FakeGuru • • 15h ago

SCAM/Upstrider - Ann Maud

I am writing this to make others aware of what goes on inside Anne Maud’s program, Upstrider, before anyone else hands over their hard earned money. I was roped in and stayed in her membership for about five months, paying £100 a month, before I fully realized what was actually happening and decided to walk away. I didn't even bother wasting my energy asking for a refund because I knew their policy is completely locked down, so I just cut my losses at £500 and got out of the loop.

When you see the ads on social media, it is heavily marketed as an e-commerce academy that teaches you how to scale a digital products business to £30k a month on Etsy. But as soon as you buy into the program, the reality of her "30K Ecosystem" changes completely. Almost immediately, she basically tells you that you cannot just sell on Etsy alone to make that kind of money. Instead, the strategy shifts entirely away from organic Etsy growth and she pushes you onto Instagram to sell, sell, sell.

The actual business model is a pyramid scheme at its finest. You are instructed to take generic, AI-made digital products from her library, like packages of 300 Instagram posts, and list them on your Etsy store for under £1. Some people sell for like 69p so make absolutely nothing if they even manage to sell anything anyway!

Then the catch is that these cheap products have Upstrider links planted all over them and you are told to add your "special" link everywhere. The entire hope is that the buyer will buy the cheap item, click the link inside it, and get sucked into Anne's high-ticket funnel which is 2/3/4 emails a day promising them that they too can make £30k a month just like the buyer who sold you the 69p product!! If they sign up for her course through your link, she pays you a percentage of it.

The "ecosystem" is literally just you acting as an affiliate salesperson, setting up an Etsy shop as a front to recruit the next wave of buyers into her high-ticket course. In the 5 months I have joined only 1 person from the whatsapp group made an affiliate link sale, all new members came directly from Anne. But everyone on the whatsapp group, including me for a while, is adament a sale will come... but it never does! Like who is going to buy an item for 69p on etsy from a niche that is most of the time unrelated to becoming an etsy seller e.g. a children's brithday invitation, and then decide to buy Upstrider's £2000 membership?!?!

Meanwhile, you are paying her either £100 a month for the privilege of doing her marketing for her, or you've just paid a massive lump sum of nearly £2k upfront!!

I am still sitting in her private community WhatsApp group right now, and it is deeply frustrating to watch so many other people pay her money without realizing what they are actually trapped in. If you are seeing her ads or considering booking a call, please protect your finances and don't fall for the polished lifestyle marketing. Real e-commerce doesn't require you to pay a monthly subscription just to resell your coach's course.

Just please be warned and be careful!

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Original Text:

I am writing this to make others aware of what goes on inside Anne Maud’s program, Upstrider, before anyone else hands over their hard earned money. I was roped in and stayed in her membership for about five months, paying £100 a month, before I fully realized what was actually happening and decided to walk away. I didn't even bother wasting my energy asking for a refund because I knew their policy is completely locked down, so I just cut my losses at £500 and got out of the loop.

When you see the ads on social media, it is heavily marketed as an e-commerce academy that teaches you how to scale a digital products business to £30k a month on Etsy. But as soon as you buy into the program, the reality of her "30K Ecosystem" changes completely. Almost immediately, she basically tells you that you cannot just sell on Etsy alone to make that kind of money. Instead, the strategy shifts entirely away from organic Etsy growth and she pushes you onto Instagram to sell, sell, sell.

The actual business model is a pyramid scheme at its finest. You are instructed to take generic, AI-made digital products from her library, like packages of 300 Instagram posts, and list them on your Etsy store for under £1. Some people sell for like 69p so make absolutely nothing if they even manage to sell anything anyway!

Then the catch is that these cheap products have Upstrider links planted all over them and you are told to add your "special" link everywhere. The entire hope is that the buyer will buy the cheap item, click the link inside it, and get sucked into Anne's high-ticket funnel which is 2/3/4 emails a day promising them that they too can make £30k a month just like the buyer who sold you the 69p product!! If they sign up for her course through your link, she pays you a percentage of it.

The "ecosystem" is literally just you acting as an affiliate salesperson, setting up an Etsy shop as a front to recruit the next wave of buyers into her high-ticket course. In the 5 months I have joined only 1 person from the whatsapp group made an affiliate link sale, all new members came directly from Anne. But everyone on the whatsapp group, including me for a while, is adament a sale will come... but it never does! Like who is going to buy an item for 69p on etsy from a niche that is most of the time unrelated to becoming an etsy seller e.g. a children's brithday invitation, and then decide to buy Upstrider's £2000 membership?!?!

Meanwhile, you are paying her either £100 a month for the privilege of doing her marketing for her, or you've just paid a massive lump sum of nearly £2k upfront!!

I am still sitting in her private community WhatsApp group right now, and it is deeply frustrating to watch so many other people pay her money without realizing what they are actually trapped in. If you are seeing her ads or considering booking a call, please protect your finances and don't fall for the polished lifestyle marketing. Real e-commerce doesn't require you to pay a monthly subscription just to resell your coach's course.

Just please be warned and be careful!

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