FTC Exposes Amazon AI Scam That Stole Millions, Is Your Passive Income Safe?

Imagine a life where money rolls in while you sleep. Sounds good, right? Click Profit painted that picture for investors, promising easy cash through online stores on Amazon, Walmart, and TikTok.

The catch? You had to pay them. A lot. We’re talking $45,000 to $75,000 upfront, plus another $10,000 for stuff to sell. But the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says it was all a lie. People lost at least $14 million, according to the FTC.

Here’s How the Alleged Scam Worked

Click Profit, along with its owners Craig Emslie and Patrick McGeoghean, are now in hot water. The FTC says they promised people $150,000 in “guaranteed” sales. Their secret weapon? An AI supercomputer that picked the best-selling products.

They claimed they’d handle everything. Picking products, shipping, even customer service. Investors would just sit back and watch the money come in. Click Profit would take a cut, of course: 25% to 35%.

But most people didn’t see any money. The FTC stepped in and shut them down earlier this month.

The FTC’s Take

“Click Profit tricked people with promises of easy money using fancy AI and brand partnerships,” said Christopher Mufarrige, who heads the FTC’s consumer protection efforts. “They ripped people off, while the guys running Click Profit got rich. ”

This isn’t the first time the FTC has gone after companies making similar claims. They’ve sued others who promised to build and manage online businesses for a big fee.

The AI Lie?

Click Profit, which also went by names like Automation Industries and PortfolioLaunch, had been around since at least 2021. They sold their idea as a way to make “passive income” with the help of AI. They even claimed it was better than investing in stocks or real estate.

To sound legit, they said they had deals with big names like Disney, Colgate, and Nike. They could buy products in bulk at a discount. But the FTC says that wasn’t true. The products they sold were cheap, generic items like paper clips and food storage bags.

And that supercomputer they bragged about? The one they said cost $5 million and used AI to find the best products? The FTC says it didn’t exist.

Amazon Said “No Way”

Turns out, Amazon wasn’t happy either. They suspended or blocked about 95% of the stores Click Profit set up because they broke Amazon’s rules. After Amazon took its fees, many stores made little to no money. Some didn’t even make enough to cover the initial investment.

The result? People were stuck with debt and products they couldn’t sell.

What’s Next?

The FTC wants to get money back for the people who were tricked. They also want to stop Click Profit from ever doing business again.