What is Affiliate Institute About – The Fraud EXPOSED
Have you ever asked, what is Affiliate Institute about? What I found was a shady front to a questionable MLM that some say is a scam. I will be digging deep into this fake affiliate marketing training company and expose the truth behind their hype.
If you want to learn about Affiliate Marketing, do not join AI
Affiliate Marketing is exploding in growth, especially with so many people shopping more online because of store closures during the Covid-19 pandemic. Back in late 2019, marketing statistics showed affiliate marketing would be a $12 Billion Global Industry by 2020.
Affiliate Marketing is a global industry with yearly sales of more than 12 Billion Dollars
I am pretty sure the industry has far surpassed that prediction based on how much more we all shop online now. Amazon has the largest affiliate marketing program of any retail company that sells online and like others they are quickly growing and diversifying.
There is no doubt that affiliate marketing is a very legitimate and lucrative way for anyone with knowledge and a computer to earn passive income from home. Seeing how affiliate marketing is so popular, companies looking to rip people off will hide behind its popularity.
This is exactly what Affiliate Institute (AI) is doing, but in such a way that many may decide not to investigate further to really see what is going on. Well I did. Back in 2020 I registered and watched a video by co-founder Julian Sherman and received his Affiliate Playbook.
This “Playbook” was only part of a sales funnel talking mainly about Julian’s rags-to-riches story and how he was going to show you step by step how he did it. Then he goes on to show you some affiliate marketing stats to sort of bait you to know more but not reveal too much.
Let us see where this rabbit hole goes
When you read or scroll all the way to the bottom of Julian Sherman’s bogus affiliate playbook there is a big blue button that says “Register Your Seat Here” which is supposed to take you to a FREE ‘Affiliate Playbook’ Webclass. So the initial Affiliate Playbook was just a teaser.
According to Julian Sherman’s playbook he is the Co-Owner of AI along with Mathieu Jang, as seen in the above image. But are they really the owners or just another pair of team leaders trying to build their team of network marketers? It didn’t take me long to find out the truth.
If you go directly to the Affiliate Institute website you will first notice that many of the sales pitch text and graphics are the same in Sherman’s playbook. Well that’s odd! This was the first Red Flag I encountered. I then scrolled down and the website revealed the REAL owners of AI.
It would stand to reason that if the AI website using a paid-for domain name of Affiliate Institute would claim Chris Smith and Kameron George as the Co-Owners, that it would be true. However my Spidey Sense is warning me of a fraud brewing here that requires investigation.
There is something about that picture of Kameron George that is giving me a sense of pause. It is like I have seen it somewhere before, plus his name kind of sticks out in one’s mind, whereas Chris Smith is pretty generic. I REMEMBER! Compare the picture above with the one below.
What is Affiliate Institute About? The same as Global Affiliate Zone
Is Affiliate Institute just a rebrand of the Global Affiliate Zone scam?
I am starting to see too many Red Flags regarding AI. This so-called affiliate marketing training opportunity is nothing more than a re-branding of GAZ, which was also the same thing. Offering members training for the same exact price that had plenty of hidden upells to other training.
To make matters worse, both Global Affiliate Zone and Affiliate Institute are owned by Mathieu Jang and Julian Sherman. Plus Kameron George was a recruitment coach at GAZ and now he is with AI. Is it me or does all of this smell like a fraud leading to an MLM scam?
I will reveal the answer to that shortly but let me explain the testimonials. The majority of people reading these hyped up pages that offer no solid training techniques as previously stated, will not take the time to dig deep and find the truth behind the somewhat fake testimonials.
I on the other hand investigate and expose the facts for you. Every internet opportunity whether real or fake will have testimonials. The trick is to dig into the testimonials and find out if they have merit or if they are just hyping up said opportunity. So I investigated further.
The testimonials for the AI training are only four videos. The two top are by Garrett Francis and Alicia Ward. Both are not only a loving couple but also run the same type of MLM business. Both have also been mentioned in comments on an FTC blog about pyramid schemes.
What is Affiliate Institute About? It is a fraudulent funnel to an MLM
The top two testimonials of boyfriend and girlfriend, should be a clear indication something is just not right here. The third of the four videos is by Draper Genoway. Like both Garrett and Alicia, Draper is from Calgary, Alberta Canada and worked in the oil industry prior to AI.
I am sure people watching and listening to the testimonials will think they are legit, and that is what they are meant to portray. Since they are not, it should make you wonder, is Affiliate Institute a scam? Why not use real testimonials from three people not connected?
This is yet another Red Flag I found with this company. Affiliate Institute is pitching itself as an affiliate marketing training platform when it is something totally different. I have been an affiliate marketer for since 2013 and everything I see from AI, does not look good.
If it were a legitimate affiliate marketing training platform like Affilorama and Wealthy Affiliate, both which I have tried, it would be giving you direct access to training. However. Affiliate Institute is very vague about the process of how you actually make money online.
Why is Affiliate Institute hiding behind affiliate marketing?
With affiliate marketing being extremely popular and profitable for anyone looking to become a part of it, AI co-founders Julian Sherman and Mathieu Jang are using it as a cover to what really lies beneath their deception. Teaching you affiliate marketing is not really their goal.
What is Affiliate Institute About when they charge high prices for little training?
They are only interested in teaching you a small part of it that will help grow the real reason for trapping you in their web of deceit. Like any business you start both online and off, it takes hard work and dedication, not this easy automated pie in the sky offer that AI is pushing.
As we can see in the complaint above, AI’s Level 1 training is supposed to give you everything you need and do the work for you for $99.00 per month. “Done For You” is always a Red Flag. However Lisa, the one posting the complaint, said it was just to join a support group.
In order to get at the meat of the training one has to spend a one-time fee of ($495 + $2,475 = $2,970). That final cost is off by $25.00, because the real cost is $2,995.00 one-time. Regardless of the actual final cost, that is WAY TOO MUCH when you can get more for less.
If affiliate marketing training was really the goal, AI would briefly explain how affiliate marketing works. Then offer you instant free access like both Affilorama and Wealthy Affiliate does, without creating a big fantasy story about becoming mega millionaires. That’s NOT reality.
The FTC, Federal Trade Commission, warns against Rags-to-Riches stories
Any time a money making opportunity uses a rags-to-riches story on how much money you can be making by just following easy training, there is always a catch that isn’t so clear up front. The success of affiliate marketing can speak for itself without some guru bragging about wealth.
However, Affiliate Institute is hiding behind affiliate marketing to get you to join so they can eventually have you sign up to a Multi-Level Marketing scheme called Enagic. Is Enagic a scam? The simple answer is no, they are not, but AI’s way of funneling sign ups is troubling.
Is Affiliate Institute an MLM? Is Affiliate Institute a scam? One thing is for certain, AI is NOT a real affiliate marketing training platform. There are too many Red Flags when it comes to how AI is promoting itself and the way they are ripping off their members from the very start.
For instance their membership prices. They have two levels, which in and of itself is not a problem but the cost is in my opinion too high. Level 1 = $99.00 per month. That’s a bit much for a training course. Then Level 2 = $2,995.00 one time fee. Are you kidding me?
This means that gurus like Smith, George, Jang, Sherman and many more Independent Business Owners of this fake affiliate marketing training platform are making bank based off of MLM recruitments, not actual affiliate marketing. This is why I call Affiliate Institute a fraud.
What about Enagic? Is it worth joining?
Enagic is selling a water ionizer purification system that will convert your tap water into alkaline ionized water. They are making unsupported health claims that this alkaline water with a higher pH level than regular non-ionized water, can make you healthy and prevent disease.
However there is no major scientific or clinical evidence to support such claims. Prestigious medical institutions and websites like National Institutes of Health, The Mayo Clinic, WebMD, and Healthline to name a few, all claim the lack of evidence in drinking this water.
Personally I love living as healthy as possible and I love drinking purified and bottled spring water. However I cannot see myself promoting a product that does not live up to scientific and medical proof of efficacy. I cannot see myself promoting a bogus product just to make money.
For me that is just as unethical as Affiliate Institute claiming that they will teach you everything about affiliate marketing and then funnel you to promoting Enagic. In real affiliate marketing you have total control of which niche market to target and which products you can promote.
DO NOT waste your time and money joining the Affiliate Institute fraud
Even though the expensive training at AI will teach you some of the basics of affiliate marketing, you need to know and learn every aspect to truly make good money in it. I mentioned earlier two affiliate marketing training platforms I have tried, Wealthy Affiliate being my favorite.
Unlike Affiliate Institute, which is just a rebrand of Global Affiliate Zone, with real legit training and a solid effort on your part, you can develop 5, 6 and even 7 figure yearly income promoting products from multiple and real well-known retail companies. I showcase many on this website.
You need to beware about so-called affiliate marketing entrepreneurs like Julian Sherman, Mathieu Jang, Kameron George, Chris Smith, Garrett Francis, Alicia Ward, and many others. With just a little digging you will find that they all are secretly promoting the same product.
Though they are claiming to be all about affiliate marketing, they are teaching a method of paid advertisement and social media marketing like Facebook ads to generate traffic and leads. This can be expensive to the beginner and denies the affiliate marketer of free traffic through SEO.
At Wealthy Affiliate you learn how to get FREE traffic and leads through SEO, Search Engine Optimization. You will also learn other forms of marketing including what AI teaches, how to quickly build a website without programming it, and do this all for $50.00 cheaper per month.
What is Affiliate Institute About? Are they a scam?
Though I still will not characterize AI or GAZ for that matter as scams, they are both frauds in that they mislead their new members into thinking they will be learning all about affiliate marketing. However they are actually being funneled into the Enagic Water Purification MLM.
Why the secrecy? Why couldn’t they just tell the truth about what they are promoting? When you see deception like that it should make you wonder about the legitimacy of ANY and ALL money making opportunities these gurus will promote next. So remember their names.
I am confident that Julian Sherman, Mathieu Jang, Kameron George and all others associated with AI, Enagic and promoting the Kangen Water Machine will either be starting up some other company to funnel new sign ups into the MLM. Members of scammy MLM’s do this all the time.
And how can I be sure that this will be the case yet again with Julian Sherman’s Affiliate Institute? If you have been following the AI Facebook Page you will see that they have created a second Facebook Page for some odd reason. Same graphics, just a slightly different address.
Another reason why I think a new reboot and maybe a rebrand is on the horizon has to do with the Web Class Sherman hypes up on the AI website is no longer available. Clicking any of the links will produce a message that says, “THIS WEBINAR DOES NOT EXIST” and it used to.
Why is Wealthy Affiliate superior to Affiliate Institute
For starters, Wealthy Affiliate (WA) has been in business since 2005 and has more than one million members from all over the world and at various levels of success. Their affiliate marketing training is all-inclusive, up to date and has produced 5, 6 and even 7-figure incomes.
Another sign of WA’s superiority over AI is its rock solid reputation in the affiliate marketing industry of being all-inclusive and transparent. I’ve been a member since 2013 and Wealthy Affiliate has never had to change their brand name, unlike Affiliate Institute which used to be Global Affiliate Zone.
Where AI charges you $99.00 per month for just their basic training, though the complaint above says it is for the monthly support group, WA charges only $49.00 per month. That is a $50.00 savings every month. Plus this $49 covers both basic and premium level training and tools.
Then we have the fact that Wealthy Affiliate will give you its First 10 out of 50 training lessons plus one fully programmed and hosted WordPress website ALL FOR FREE! You cannot get anything worthwhile from Affiliate Institute unless you pay them $99.00 up front.
When you become a Free Starter Member you can take the first 10 lessons and see for yourself if affiliate marketing is right for you, and you can choose ANY product to promote. If interested click the free sign up below. For any questions now, please leave them below and I will respond.
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