Lies, Clicks, and Consequences

Anita’s hands trembled as she stared at her phone screen…at the email that glared back at her.

“You’ve told many lies, but this? This, I won’t let you go scot free.”

She swallowed hard, trying to steady her breathing. Her palms were slick with sweat, the cheap rubber casing of her phone cold beneath her fingers.

She thought of what to type. Should she beg again? Should she explain? But would any word make a difference? The truth had never saved her before.

This course, this particular one that promised to change her life, had been so enticing that she had thought purchasing it would be the end of her misery.

She closed her eyes and let her mind drift back to her tiny, stuffy room: the peeling paint, the louvred window that refused to open fully, the corridor outside filled with shoes of different tenants, the constant noise, the buckets left behind by careless neighbors. Her dream of a separate kitchen, a private toilet, a veranda… it felt like a lifetime away.

She remembered the affiliate video again, the one that promised: “With just your phone, you can make your first $1,000 a month as a beginner.” She had calculated, double-checked, imagined. 1400naira multiplied by 1,000… she would be a millionaire! Her life could change forever.

Even if it was only $500, she thought, that was enough. Enough to eat without counting every naira. Enough to finally have a life that felt hers. Enough to feel like a soft girl.

But the affiliate marketer hadn’t told her the truth. She hadn’t known she would have to sell, run ads, create content, convince strangers online to trust her. She tried. She failed. And people didn’t care about her excuses. Affiliate marketing wasn’t as easy as she had imagined.

So she lied.
She borrowed pretty dresses, filmed at her friend’s house, told the world that affiliate marketing had helped her move into a beautiful self-contained apartment. She even downloaded success stories from other marketers and passed them off as her own. People started buying.

Just when she thought it was working, she received the email. A certain Olivia had seen through all her lies, demanding $500 or legal action.

"Presenting my sales as yours just to deceive people is a serious offense," the email read.

"I’m only letting you go because you didn’t try to deny it. And also, I was in your situation a few years ago, I did everything to succeed, but I never went as far as stealing other people’s screenshots."

Anita’s chest tightened. She hadn’t even made $200 yet. But she knew better than to offend this woman. So she went on a wild borrowing spree, hustling and borrowing from every possible corner, and, lucky enough, she finally settled Olivia.

What next? I can’t just go back to where I came from. She cried and pondered hard.

She decided to start afresh. She picked up her phone and resolved to tell the world her true story instead.

“Guys! I learned the hard way. I started affiliate marketing five months ago, and I wasn’t making any sales… Let me share with you the lie that almost ruined me…”
She poured her heart out to the internet. And, funny enough, that was what went viral.
She realized being real was easier than she thought, and people could actually relate. She began to make small sales, and things slowly started to change for the better. A year later, she found herself as a guest on a talk show, educating and motivating others. She made more than the sales she had dreamed of and gained a life she had never imagined for herself.