A Time I Was Almost Scammed — Understanding ‘Group Delusion Projects’
Bubbles are everywhere. We know the economic kind, but the bubble is really just a pattern—an illusion groups of people sustain together...
Bubbles are everywhere. We know the economic kind, but the bubble is really just a pattern—an illusion groups of people sustain together. Once you see it, you start spotting bubbles in business, culture, politics, even friendships.
I call one of these patterns the Group Delusion Project: when a crowd, including the victims, unconsciously conspires in their own deception.
To explain, let’s hop into my rusty grey DeLorean (points if you get the reference) and head back to a time I was almost scammed.
Part I—A Time I Was Almost Scammed
It’s 2018 or 2019. I’m in my early twenties, naive, hustling to grow a real estate business. My dad sees a Facebook ad for a training day—$45. Why not? I sign up.
Two men run the event. I’ll change their names to protect their identities (I won’t, however, be able to protect their integrity). Let’s call them:
Real Estate Pitbull — bald, aggressive, the “coach.”
Slick — smooth-talking, designer suit, claimed to be a venture capitalist with a fashion label and a charity named after himself (apparently “PR people made him do it”).
Pitbull did the real estate spiel, while Slick played the high-flying outsider. I couldn’t figure out what he was doing at a real estate training day, if he owned a VC firm.
“You agents, you work in sales, but you can’t sell yourselves! I love you guys, you’re adorable. So yeah, that’s why I’m here, because I just love helping you guys.”
Ahh, okay. He just loves helping agents… but in humble Epping?
Slick had an answer for that, too. ‘I just flew in from Melbourne. I was like Epping? Where the f###’s that? But [Real Estate Pitbull] invited me and I just had to help him.’
I was starry-eyed. This is who I need to know and who I want to be.
Please remember, I was in my early twenties.
The Hook
The day was cleverly staged. They rolled out clients—agents who swore by their training. Testimonials stacked up, social proof mounted.
Then Slick demonstrated a “perfect sales conversation,” proving agents could charge 3%, 4%, even 5% commission. We watched videos of their bootcamps, packed rooms cheering. It all looked legit.
There I was, firmly on the hook, like an unsuspecting turkey dining on Thanksgiving Eve. They had me, right up until the inevitable climax of the training day…
when the upsells started.
I don’t remember how they did it.
It was all a blur.
But Real Estate Pitbull and Slick proved their coaching packages and bootcamps were worth $50,000 (I can’t remember the working out, it was shotty math, but they PROVED it).
I was still trying to get my head around this $50K valuation when they started SLASHING it!!!!
Rationalising a series of radical, confusing discounts that were available TODAY ONLY!
From $50,000
down to $30,000…
What’s the catch here?
… $10,000…
Shit, that’s low…
‘But wait…’
Shit, it can’t go lower, can it?
‘For today only, just because I love agents so much, we’re robbing ourselves blind and selling all this for…’
No, surely not…
$3,999.
😳😱🤯😲🙊🙀
‘But this is only for the FIRST HUNDRED PEOPLE to the back of the room to sign up!’
Oh shit! No time to think! What do I do?
The attendees, most of them middle-aged or at least in their forties, run like there’s a bomb threat. Seeing these fully-fledged adults race like mad children to the back of the unassuming RSL hall, rationality finally kicks in for young Joe, and that sneaky feeling in my gut finally overpowers the ‘logic’ of the room.
Hold up… hold up!
I initiate full retreat. In a nearby cafe, I start googling Slick—and the truth comes out. His charity isn’t real. His sales training, stolen from Tony Robbins. I don’t think he’s a VC, either.
‘Full of value.’
I’m confident these people were full of something…
but it wasn’t value.
Part II—The Group Delusion Project
Looking back, the tactics were obvious—manufactured scarcity, staged testimonials, FOMO. What puzzled me most wasn’t the sales trickery, but the audience. Why did grown, sensible adults sprint to the back of the room?
Here’s my conclusion:
They weren’t just being scammed…
They were in on the scam.
Not consciously, but emotionally.
They wanted it to be true. The idea of a shortcut to success and refuge from mediocrity was too seductive.
This is why I call it a Group Delusion ‘Project’. Like a colony of ants or bee hive, everyone is working together. There’s a hierarchy, and everyone plays a role. Everyone is believing what they want to believe.
Chief Conspirators (Pitbull & Slick)—Do they believe their own story, or are they knowingly full of it? It doesn’t matter, they validate their opinion either way.
Disciples (the agents giving testimonials)—even if they’re not getting kickbacks, they’re ideologically bought in, or wanting to get in on this game themselves.
Subjects (the audience, many hoping to climb this ladder themselves)—they validate the delusion, aiding the spread by creating more so-called social proof.
Together, they generate a reality distortion field. As long as enough people are willing to suspend disbelief, the Group Delusion Project runs on autopilot.
It never sounds like something we’d be dumb enough to fall for. ‘I’m no sheep.’ But our Sheep Mode is always there. When activated, it’s goodbye rationality, goodbye judgement. It defies belief, what even the smartest among us can come to believe, under the right conditions.
That’s why I referred to the Logic of the Room. I use the term ‘logic’, but really, the draw to Slick and Pitbull was something I felt. Like I was infected with an idea virus, an intrusive force warping the insane into the plausible.
When enough people in a space (either literal, or abstract) buy into an idea, their shared belief becomes contagious. It’s an energy thing—an emotional pull, not an analytical one.
Why can some resist while others capitulate?
I think it comes down to a Reality Immune System.
Confidence, self-esteem and skepticism strengthen this immune system. Fear, insecurity, or desperation weaken it. Bring enough low-immune people together, and you get the volatile mix that sustains bubbles, cults, and scams alike.
I always say, easier to convince a thousand people to ride to their certain death in battle, than one on their own.
The Journey To Come…
I paired a lot of thoughts back from this piece to keep it more concise. I had written a lot more about the link between bubbles and cults, and into the psychology that disposes people to being swept up, but I’ll have to save that for another time.
In general, this field has become an unofficial long-term study of mine, certainly a major theme in my next book The Oracle, and many of the articles, podcast episodes and videos to come. So, if you’re interested, you can stay abreast of the progress by subscribing below:
I'm glad you didn't get scammed. You describe it very nicely. I how others will read and beware of the same techniques.
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