Scam Alert: OnClick Academy
Tags: webdev, onclickacademy, career, scam
Published: 2019-08-05 20:19:48

> Followup: April 2023
> Now Victor Bastos is selling his platform and email lists - so even though I unsubscribed from everything on his worthless platform years ago, I'm getting emails from this con artist again. He's telling me "just hit unsubscribe" and I'm telling him "remove every trace of my private info including my email address from your platform and email lists." He is refusing. So, apparently he's gone from selling products he never delivers, to selling the email addresses of everyone he ever scammed. What an absolute loser.

This past week I decided to sign up for OnClick Academy's offer for it's founder's CEO to share some of his client base.

Note: I didn't really need his clients. I have my own. But, I had a bit of free time that I 'could' fit some extra work in if the offer didn't end up a total scam. So, it was an offer to hook me up with some work, which I was

- qualified for (vastly overqualified for actually)
- willing to do if any actually materialized

So, I signed up for the low low price of fifty bucks.

Note: I would have done the work if there was any (there wasn't, this is a total scam, don't sign up for it) but my main objective was to see if there was any truth to Victor's promise (with just HTML and CSS knowledge, he could hook a junior dev up with $5k to $10k worth of work a month) because if it was true, I know a number of junior devs that this would be a really good deal for. (It's not true, don't do it.)

## Here's the actual offer I signed up for

![](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/dmx70wc215zvo20a5dmn.png)

![](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/ot5tgu5sn0jjk7jl0tvs.png)

## Here is what I actually received for my fifty bucks

_imagine an entire field of crickets chirping_

![](https://media.giphy.com/media/QfHysYicYT1Ru/giphy.gif)

## After signing up

I received an email asking me to fill out a skills inventory. I provided all the requested information. (Note: I am vastly overqualified for the 'you just need to know basic HTML and CSS' offer. I know HTML and CSS, well beyond basic, plus JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP, Python, Angular, React, etc, etc and have been a successful freelancer for over a decade.)

A couple days later after receiving zero response from Victor, I sent a follow up email asking if there was anything more he needed from me.

_crickets_

On Friday, I asked for a refund.

On Monday, he sent out a mass email about how he was getting a bunch of complaints so he was going to have to work out a system to ensure that work was distributed evenly. He managed to work in a plug about that 'one guy' who's made $4k so far.

I responded that I'd really just like my refund and that I would sign up again later once he'd ironed out the logistics.

He responded that he'd be happy to refund my money 'until Friday'.

We spent several hours arguing back and forth about the difference between the meaning, in English, of 'I will refund your money until Friday' and 'I will refund your money ON Friday'. 

Eventually, I was done arguing and told him I'd just open a PayPal dispute then he could refund it through that. I was really starting to feel like he'd taken my money last week, spent it, done nothing to provide the service he promised, and was trying to kick the can over to next week in a never-ending brush-off intended to jerk me around until the PayPal dispute option deadline passed.

He came back with the most ridiculous responses imaginable. Apparently:

- if I open a dispute, it will take me far longer to get my refund (I took this as a threat that if I open a dispute, he'll drag the process out as long as he possibly can to 'get me back'. He says the dispute process naturally just takes longer. I responded that he could just pay the refund and the dispute goes away the second he does so.)
- he has a contact at PayPal he'll call up (to presumably wreak vengeance upon me for disputing a charge he has already agreed to refund.)

And then - I get another mass email from him (presumably sent to his entire mailing list) trying to get even more people to sign up (this time for the low low cost of three monthly payments of $19 each.)

## The takeaway

If you are a Junior Developer getting Victor Bastos' emails promising you access to his client network, and you're thinking 'this just might be my chance':

**DON'T DO IT**

# It is a scam.

The emails say you'll be included in his private facebook and linkedin networks. The emails say you'll get client work. The emails lie.

There might be one dude who signed up who's actually made $4k - I don't know, personally I'm dubious. What I do know is that as a highly qualified senior engineer, I got no invite to either a Facebook or Linkedin network, and I made exactly $0 and am disputing via PayPal to get my (wasted) money back.