The Syndicate: The Internet Marketing Scam Organization Behind Game

Who started all of the game crap we now see?  Some nutjobs will say the Federal Reserve, but that’s obviously wrong and insane.  Most of you will answer Roissy because he is the primary person generating game in the so called manosphere.  But Roissy did not come up with game on his own.  He got it from others as promoting game acts as a pyramid scheme.  A lot of you are familiar with Neil Strauss, Mystery, Tyler, etc., but none of them originally created game.  Some of you might be familiar with Eben Pagan/David DeAngelo who is the creator of game in its current iteration (although he rehashed R. Don Steele and Ross Jefferies).  However, that’s not a complete answer as you will find out.  (David DeAngelo is a name Eben Pagan used to promote his game scam so they are the same person.)  Eben Pagan is a member of an organization of internet marketing con artists that calls itself The Syndicate.  The Syndicate is behind lots of online scams beyond game/PUA such as internet marketing scams and penis enlargement scams.  (Yes, The Syndicate is responsible for the penis enlargement spam in your inbox.)

Where does The Syndicate come from and how is it connected to game?  And how do we know about it?  We know about The Syndicate due to the work of Jason Jones, a lawyer living in Chicago who runs The Salty Droid blog documenting The Syndicate and internet marketing scams in general.  Jones’s work exposing internet marketing scams and The Syndicate was distilled into a single article by The Verge.  There is also an associated video which you should watch.

While everything the video says is important, take note of the explanation of The Syndicate starting at around 9:58.  Frank Kern is the internet marketing scammer who invented the concept of “syndicates” where internet marketing con artists get together to boost each other.  Kern got together with other internet marketing con artists to form a syndicate which they call The Syndicate.  Eventually, one of the individuals in The Syndicate was Eben Pagan which makes the connection between game and The Syndicate even more obvious.  Frank Kern has more links to game which is why I said that Eben Pagan isn’t a complete answer to who is behind game.  PUAHate documented the links between game and Frank Kern.

Although guys on here are used to thinking about PUA as this isolated thing, the truth is it was really just one subculture in a large, mostly centralized scam movement based around Frank Kern and his partners, starting around 2005 or so and based primarily in California.

Of course, I’m talking about “the Syndicate” and its affiliates, a group that appears to include community notables like Eben Pagan (David D), Neil Strauss and Mystery.

It’s kinda strange to think about it, but it seems like most of the scams you see on the internet these days are connected to one network. All these programs, like Mystery Method, The Rich Jerk, The Empower Network, various penis pill companies, “steroid replacement” supplements and so on, they’re all done by a bunch of people who know each other.

Like, just to give you an example, here are some connections between PUA and the internet marketing world:

- Mystery has worked with Frank Kern’s associate Mike Long.

- Frank Kern himself has worked with Neil Strauss.

- Eben Pagan has worked with tons of people in IM and PUA.

- Tyler himself has said he has friends who run “penis pill companies.”

So it’s pretty clear all this stuff is run by a pretty tight network.

The connections between game and The Syndicate which includes other internet marketing scams from penis enlargement BS to other forms of dating advice run very deep.  Game (or PUA) is a scam just as penis enlargement pills are.  It was even created by the same group of internet marketing con artists.  It’s telling that The Syndicate created multiple forms of dating advice.  The article from The Verge even listed the internet marketing’s biggest (scam) niches, and half of them were forms of dating advice.

Internet Marketing is a business model (if one based on fraud), but it’s also a niche in its own right. This is the ultimate example of how Scamworld folds in on itself: material by Internet Marketers, for Internet Marketers, that purports to teach you Internet Marketing.

A-Z Money Machine: Are you “fed up trying to outsmart Google, pump out affiliate sites, or peddle crappy Kindle ebooks to make a few bucks online?” Yours for four payments of $277!

Undercover Commissions: The inventor of the “Undercover Traffic Pump,” which combines an “undercover traffic source” and something called the “cash tripler method.” Available courtesy of a self-described “family man” named Matt Bacak. $49 + $49/month.

New Age. Yep, that’s right. Having psychic powers is one thing, but how are you going to monetize?

Spiritual Practitioner Secrets: Lisa Turner offers ways to both “get more deeply connected to your intuition & innate psychic abilities” and the advice that will help you “make a great living helping other people with your amazing talents.” This one-time investment comes at a price of £497 (roughly $800). But don’t worry‚ you are protected by Turner’s sixty day “Get Psychic” money-back guarantee.

Mind Movies: This comes courtesy of our old friend Glen Ledwell. “Mind Movies is a unique ‘Law of Attraction’ solution that has already brought astounding success to millions of people around the world.” And you can too! Ready to “manifest [your] aspirations?” Try the Subliminal Success Accelerator for free at MindMovies.com

Pick-Up Artistry. This is a classic, and more often than not the pages here speak for themselves. Not that all Internet Marketers remain stuck forever in the PUA ghetto: indeed, Double Your Dating impresario David DeAngelo / Eben Pagan has moved on to full scale membership in The Syndicate.

Female Mastery for Men: Tristan Del Toro (definitely his real name) knows the three things every woman needs to know before she will sleep with you. This e-book costs $4.95 “for the first seven days of service” plus a future payment of $40.05.

Eben Pagan and Annie Lalla were able to turn their recent nuptials into a three day “intimacy intensive,” where couples could shell out $997 to learn “how to take the intimacy, trust and love in your relationship to a much deeper level.” On the website, it was not explained why a pair of newlyweds were qualified to do this. In addition, there was a “woman and man couple” registration, but nothing for same-sex couples, implying that this event was strictly heteronormative.

All of the knowledge that has been uncovered about The Syndicate gives new meaning to how the so called manosphere operates.  There’s a lot of similarities between how internet marketing con artists operate and how the so called manosphere operates.  They both use the same tactics and in many cases the same language.  The so called manosphere even operates just like one of Frank Kern’s “syndicates”.  The only difference is that internet marketing con artists are much more effective than the so called manosphere at separating people from their money.

After learning about The Syndicate, Frank Kern, and the connections to game, what do we know now?

1. Game is a scam, period.  There is no question about it now since it was created by an internet marketing con artist (Eben Pagan) who has deep connections to the rest of the internet marketing scam world.
2. Every form of dating advice is a scam.  It is likely that any form of dating advice you can find now was either created by The Syndicate or influenced by The Syndicate so much it might as well be created by them.  (The only exception to this would be dating advice from someone who specifically attacks the seduction community such as Aaron Sleazy.)
3. Anyone in the so called manosphere who promotes game works for The Syndicate either knowingly or as a useful idiot.  This is also true for anyone outside of the manosphere who promotes game or elements of game such as Susan Walsh or Dr. Nerdlove.  Since there is no real difference between a useful idiot who has been duped about game and someone who knowingly works for The Syndicate, we should treat them as if they all knowingly work for The Syndicate.
4. Conspiracy theorists couldn’t find an actual conspiracy if it was right in front of them.  Not a single conspiracy theorist in the so called manosphere bothered to investigate who was really behind game.  This proves that all of the conspiracy theorists in the so called manosphere are frauds because if they weren’t they would have uncovered The Syndicate.  It’s possible that conspiracy theory is promoted in the so called manosphere to distract readers from finding out about The Syndicate by filling their heads with nonsense about the Rockefellers, the Rothschilds, the Jews, and other conspiracy theory BS.  We don’t know if the conspiracy theorists of the so called manosphere knowingly work for The Syndicate or are dupes.  Since it’s impossible to tell the difference, we might as well treat them as if they knowingly work for The Syndicate.
5. Paleo diet BS, “self improvement” BS, doomsday prepping BS, etc. in the so called manosphere are simply other scams in addition to game.  The proponents of all of these things in the so called manosphere overlap forming what is effectively a Frank Kern style “syndicate”.  It’s possible that The Syndicate is involved in these scams too.

There is some very good news knowing that game was created by internet marketing con artists.  The Federal Trade Commission has gotten involved against the internet marketing con artists in the past.  For example, the FTC fined Frank Kern nearly a quarter of a million dollars.  This means that our biggest ally in getting rid of game and the rest of the scams trying to invade the MRM is the FTC.  In addition, the FTC can also indirectly strike a blow against feminism since feminists (such as Dr. Nerdlove) are trying to use dating advice as a weapon against men.  Since The Syndicate has made almost all dating advice fraudulent, anyone who promotes fraudulent dating advice now can and should be investigated by the FTC.  Even if the FTC renders no monetary judgement against them, it will discredit anyone involved in dating advice whether it’s the so called manosphere or feminism.  Eben Pagan, the creator of game, is no longer involved with it.  He has moved on to other scams because he knows that game has been around long enough to get the attention of the law.  He’s smart enough to know to get out before that happens.  The so called manosphere and the feminists aren’t so they are the ones who will get discredited as a result.  When it comes to our purposes of helping the MRM and defeating feminism, this is the best possible outcome.

I encourage everyone to read the links on this page.  There is a lot of good information at The Salty Droid and the article at The Verge that can be used against the so called manosphere and feminists who push dating advice.  We now have proof that game and most other forms of dating advice are scams.  Use it as much as possible.

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