Ever heard of a tipster called George White?

If you’re not a social media user, you might’ve missed him.

He’s on Instagram where he calls himself The Moosh and offers ‘insider’ horse racing tips via his Mooshtips service.

Thanks to his growing online popularity, White has caught the attention of The Daily Mail.

Now, as we all know, The Daily Mail is the EPITOME of good morals and ethical behaviour (sarcasm alert).

And so it recently published an exposé which revealed that ‘George White’ was actually Jason Haddigan, a 54 year old convicted fraudster who’s “banned from every betting shop in England and Wales.”

In his twenties, the story goes, he travelled the UK with his dad, pulling sleight-of-hand cons on bookmakers, claiming winning bets after races had finished.

Then he wrote a book called How and Why I Conned the Bookies (which was pulled after furious bookmakers threatened legal action!)

Because of this behaviour, White has been in jail…

First, a 14 month stint in 2014… and then another 21 weeks in 2021.

However, he has since moved to Thailand, buying a seven-bedroom mansion in Pattaya, where he has transformed himself into a Playboy tipster called ‘The Moosh’.

On Instagram he shares photos of his £45,000 BMW convertible… lavish parties around his private swimming pool… and lots of women in bikinis drinking champagne with him.

This has made him a bit of a hit on social media.

He performs a special move whenever one of his tips wins… something that’s gone viral among followers who copy the ‘Moosh Dance’ and share it on their own feeds.

Now his fame is getting him into trouble…

The Mail has tried to interrogate him about his fake name and past misdemeanours, but Haddigan hasn’t denied any of it.

“All my life I’ve been a loser, a scammer, a drunk and a hopeless gambling addict,” he said. “I’ve had a s**t life and now at last, everything is good for me because for the first time, I’ve found some success.”

Of course, The Mail were absolutely NOT on his side…

But here’s my own take on it…

What You Can Learn from Mooshtips

Personally, I’m not bothered that Haddigan uses a fake name or that he has a chequered past.

At least he admits it.

In fact, there’s something to be said for being open about your mistakes when you run a business.

It makes you human and relatable.

There’s no reason why you cannot own up to flaws, or share your struggles… especially if you are clearly trying to turn a corner and do something meaningful with your life.

It’s also worth noting why The Moosh is such a success…

Because he’s clearly making a lot of money…

His betting service starts at £7.79 a month, but the higher level services go up to £41.99 per month or £360 for a year’s access.

He claims that he’s got over 2,100 subscribers, each paying an average of £40 per month.

If true, that’s roughly £1.8 million a year coming in purely by selling betting advice online.

Not bad for a one-man operation.

But it’s not just about the actual horse racing tips he shares.

The online persona of ‘George White’ is selling a lifestyle…

The flash cars… the private pool… the champagne… the scantily clad women…

Presumably most of his followers are young and male.

So this macho-chauvinist posing will undoubtedly appeal to them.

Most will be stuck in day jobs they hate… struggling to find work… or feeling resentful about their lack of income.

Which makes the idea that they could escape from the system and create their own financial freedom very alluring…

Irresistible, even!

And that’s something worth understanding if you’re trying to make money online.

You need to understand the dreams and desires of your target audience… and sell the big life transformation that they might achieve if they were to use your product.

However…

Your promises need to be backed up with credible, useful advice.

And this is where The Moosh falls down…

THE IMPORTANCE OF TRUST

By all accounts, The Moosh’s tipping leaves a lot of people angry and out of pocket.

He claims to pay out huge sums of cash to race industry insiders – which is how he selects his tips – but this lacks credibility.

And because his tips just aren’t that good, a lot of people are now gunning for him.

One complained: ‘Without a doubt the worst horse racing tipster since horses were invented. He would struggle to pick a winner in a two-horse race where one of them only had three legs.’

So I certainly DON’T recommend you pay The Moosh for tips…

And I’d also warn against following anyone who’s marketing purely involves showing off flashy lifestyle photos and shouting about how much money they make.

Unless there’s a credible and proven methodology beneath all the bluster, then it just screams SCAMSTER.

But this is the problem with our social media age…

It rewards appearances over substance.

So, yes, you CAN style yourself as a Playboy outlaw if you want to.

You CAN build yourself a large following by titillating a gullible audience with fake girlfriends and staged pool parties.

And you CAN get noticed by relentlessly showing off.

If you’re looking to appeal to vapid, attention-deficient social media junkies – and you have hours to spare every day prancing around in front of a camera – it really does work.

(For a while, at least, until the angry crowds turn against you because you woefully underdelivered!)

But please rest assured…

…You don’t HAVE TO act like a big shot multi-millionaire to get people’s attention.

There’s no need to dance, sing, and brag all day on social media.

And it doesn’t matter what car you have.

The most important factor in a successful online business is trust.

In my experience, the people who do well over the long term aren’t usually the ones who are shouting about how much money they have.

They’re quietly selling digital products, publishing newsletters, creating printables, selling short eBooks, or teaching what they know in courses.

And they quietly connect with their target audience by sharing genuinely useful information via email.

So they don’t need to pretend that they’re top experts, multi-millionaires or creative geniuses.

Instead, they build a following over time because their subscribers value what they say, and find that the advice actually helps them in real life.

It’s this sense of trust which means that customers will keep reading your emails… subscribing to your services… or repeat-buying your products.

So don’t look at characters like George White and assume this is the only way to succeed online.

There are much quieter, more private ways to make money, where you can be yourself.