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Desmond Ong of Chromabit: The Truth About His “Truth” (Dec. 2020)
By Eugenson | Negative Reviews
By Eugenson | Negative Reviews
Desmond Ong (Chromabit’s Founder) was originally featured on this website in 2015 for a product he’d released called “Key to 10K” (complete, original review below). We didn’t review that product very positively, and Desmond has repeatedly attempted to intimidate, harass, and damage us in retaliation for publishing it.
We have no doubt that more attempts to harass us and damage our reputation will come in retaliation for this December 2020 update.
Any attempts at intimidation or attacks toward our reputation will be documented in future updates to this review.
Desmond has also since created “Truth About Desmond Ong“ where he mentions StoppingScams explicitly, and claims that we’re tarnishing his reputation to promote our own agenda. He attempts to make the case that our company and others who have published negative information about him are stating mistruths to manipulate his prospective customers.
Desmond’s past products include:
Quite a bit of time has passed since our original review, so an update seemed appropriate.
First and foremost, we’d like to present Desmond’s side of the story. He published this in response to our original review several years ago:
Either StoppingScams.com or Desmond Ong isn’t telling the truth.
Ong claims that we’re the ones misleading everyone, but we implore you to read some of the update below before deciding whose side of the story to believe.
If you’ve visited Desmond’s website or considered any of his offers lately, you’ve likely seen multiple images of him with celebrities, as a guest of local news stations, or being a featured speaker at the Harvard Club and Nasdaq.
The intention of these images is to boost Ong’s credibility, but there’s only one hiccup: several of them were purchased, not earned.
How do we know this?
Because the same person who sold Desmond several of these speaking opportunities (namely the Harvard Club and Nasdaq) also pitched this “package” at a conference we attended.
In fact, the merchant offering these services (Clint Arthur) had an article about his events that are designed to manufacture authority featured in the Wall Street Journal. His entire sales pitch at the conference we attended was propping your personal credibility up by taking pictures with celebrities through (often expensive) photo opportunities. From the WSJ article:
Instead, they were invited by Clint Arthur, an erstwhile screenwriter, former taxi driver and organic-butter salesman who rents club space on campus, throws up staging emblazoned with symbols resembling the school’s insignia, invites celebrities like actress Suzanne Somers–and enables advisers to adorn themselves with the prestige of Harvard or West Point.
Mr. Arthur, age 52, born Arthur Clinton Gross, is a charismatic marketing impresario who trains businesspeople — including, so far, about three dozen financial advisers — in media skills. He charges roughly $5,000 to $25,000 for programs that often include an appearance on a prestigious campus.
Coincidentally at the end of the presentation we attended, Clint reveals that’s exactly what he’s selling. Then he offered packages north of $10K USD to speak at the Harvard Club, Nasdaq, and local TV news stations.
For us, it felt a bit misleading to manufacture authority using purchased photo ops and speaking engagements.
However, several professionals at that event purchased a similar package as Desmond, and as a result, they were there the very same day of Desmond’s pictures at the Harvard Club, and with the very same celebrities (Caitlyn Jenner and George Ross). You can see one of them in the front row of Desmond’s “Harvard Business Speech” picture.
Another one of them posted a picture with Clint, the merchant who organizes and sells these “opportunities,” at the Harvard Club where the event was hosted:
Same event, same celebrities, same poses — all purchased for over $10K per person
Part of this package was speaking at Nasdaq as well, along with a minimum of two local news appearances (several of which you’ll see featured on Desmond’s website).
So before you decide who’s trying to manipulate you and who’s actually trying to help you get a fair start in online business, remember that both of us were pitched Clint’s services for manufacturing credibility — one of us purchased the package and leverages the photos when trying to convince you to trust them (Desmond), the other did not (our organization).
In our original review below, one of Desmond’s former employees (who was afraid to reveal their identity in fear of backlash & retaliation) shared their experiences working for Desmond.
Since then, several other employees have spoken up on Glassdoor (a website where employees are given the opportunity to review their employer). Here are some excerpts:
This is in addition to the ex-employee interview featured in our original review below. There have been some positive reviews posted to Glassdoor as well, but given the context that an employee left on our website a few years ago:
There are just so many fake testimonials from Fiverr or scammers for these kind of product.
Combined with the insights about the Harvard Club, Nasdaq, and local news images above — a pretty clear pattern begins to emerge.
With all of the above in mind, what do you think? Do you think we’re intentionally misleading you as Desmond claims, or do you think we’re just a consumer protection website trying to bring truth to an industry that’s notoriously filled with scams?
Regardless of what you decide, we wish you the best of luck in your pursuit of online business. Stay safe out there!
Desmond Ong promises to hand his customers the golden key to start making over $11,000 within the next couple of days through his Key to 10k training. He makes it clear that his product isn’t for folks who are looking to make $100 to $200 per month. Furthermore, he says his claims are hype-free. He also promises to hold the hands of his customers every step of the way from $0 – $10,000 or more per month.
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Four months after publishing this review, one of Desmond Ong’s former employees shared some of his insight after working for Desmond. You can see his comment below this review, but I’m calling it out here as well:
Love your review here!
There are just so many fake testimonials from Fiverr or scammers for these kind of product. I’m sorry I have to expressing some negativity here. But yea, Desmond Ong is a super-duper thick-face scammer! Why I’m so sure. I used to work for him! He told me his company is doing amazing things like Mindvalley.
I started feeling not right since the first day of working with him. Then I go on for another 9 months because I travel oversea just to work for him (aka I’m stuck to resign). The truth is, Desmond Ong never achieve all those things – he was staying with his parents and driving his dad’s old car (maybe getting richer now since scamming others every single month).
He creates stories, he’s calling himself bestselling author after the book came out for a week. And 90% of the content in the book is talking about his achievement and trying to sell some coaching program.
I’m not promoting this product for affiliate commissions. I’m only reviewing this product objectively, as I’ve done for dozens of others, to protect my readers from wasting hard-earned money and precious time on products that won’t make them money.
Desmond Ong certainly has a mouth-watering offer, which he claims is “no hype.” He says it’s worked for him and most of his students. This unbiased review reveals the truth about this product. Whether this is finally a newbies’ dream come true or just another worthless, shiny object will be determined by the end of this review.
Desmond is quite a motivational speaker who can bring hope to any discouraged internet marketer. He’s a fan of positive thinking and encourages his followers to be, which is an advantage, as no internet marketer can succeed without that.
Desmond provides his customers useful copywriting examples in form of templates that they could customize to meet their unique marketing needs.
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He teaches basic Internet Marketing skills, which stark newbies can certainly benefit from, as they’re allowed a peek into what happens behind the Internet Marketing scenes. Some of his lessons were on finding profitable niches, finding affiliate products to promote, building email lists (even though he said his product had nothing to do with list building, which is contradictory), driving traffic, etc…
He demonstrates the use of a simple structure, which is made up of: driving traffic to a sales page, collecting emails of potential buyers, and leading them to live events, such as webinars, to encourage them to buy. This isn’t a “secret” strategy — in fact it’s taught by many product publishers in our industry.
However, Desmond doesn’t provide significant detail for each of these steps, making them difficult to implement.
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During the purchase of this product, several upsells had to be declined. So, if you don’t like upsells, you may not be happy with your findings.
For starters, in the members’ area, a big, bold, red inscription caught my attention. It read:
“Read This First: Need Personal Help?
For a limited time only, I’m getting a small group of my most successful coaches to help guide you towards your financial goals.
However, we can only coach 5 students every single month, so if you are interested, please quickly fill up the information below & one of our certified coaches will give you a free consultation.”
A yellow mega-button that read, “Claim Your Free Consultation Now” followed that inscription. I clicked the mega-button and registered for a free, personal consultation with Desmond Ong and his team, but never heard from them.
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Desmond offers support through a Facebook group. I clicked on the big, blue button that read, “Join Desmond’s Student Group” and it led me to my Facebook account where I clicked on “Join Group”. However, my request is still pending after more than 24 hours.
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Desmond Ong offers his customers a free website, which he claims is worth $497. However, this website can only be yours if you sign up with the web hosting company he’s affiliated with. He presents you with a free website, which he values at $497, as bait to get you to subscribe for hosting services that would yield him a commission.
However, the website, which he says is very valuable, is actually worthless. You and every other customer of Desmond Ong’s will have the same website, with the same content.
Google and other search engines, on which you depend for organic traffic, don’t take kindly to duplicate content, which is what the website Desmond Ong offers you is made of. The penalty of the search engines for duplicate content is poor search engine rankings. For these reasons, the website will do you no good as an internet marketer.
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Desmond Ong features one of his webinars in the members’ area which, as I found, was a waste of time. He just went on about his achievements and showed off what a great life he could afford because of his internet marketing success. He claimed he did that to inspire his followers.
I thought the webinar was meant to provide practical steps to follow in order to succeed as an internet marketer. Inspiration is a good thing, but Desmond took way too long showing his audience photos of his “pleasure trips” around the world while he talked about all the fun he had. It came across as showing off.
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Some of Desmond’s tutorials were just plain annoying. One of them just suddenly stopped before the video made any sense. I thought it was my internet speed. So, I refreshed to double-check. Unfortunately, the video stopped at exactly the same timestamp as before, and didn’t continue in the next video.
Desmond Ong encourages his customers to create their own digital products in order to maximize income on the Internet, but doesn’t take the time to show them how. He only skims through the concepts at a very high level, leaving a ton of blanks to be filled by his customers.
Desmond claims his product sales page isn’t hyped. However, a look inside the members’ area reveals an exact opposite of his claims.
Desmond Ong has value to offer new internet marketers in certain aspects, but doesn’t do a good job at holding his customers’ hands to success. This product is far from capable of netting you $10,000 per month as Desmond claims it is.
I’m sure you were excited to find a product like Desmond’s Key to 10k on the Internet (I was too) and couldn’t wait to get your hands on it. The sales claims make it sound very promising. However, having read this review, you almost certainly have your doubts and questions. Please feel free to leave your questions or comments below.
Have you bought any of Desmond Ong’s products or services? If so, what results did you get using them? Share your experiences with the community below.
Eugenson is just a regular guy, except he doesn't believe in the security of nine-to-five jobs and loves to launch out on his own, trying to realize his dreams his way and at his time. He's tried to make money online for quite some time now, purchasing product after product, and has been swindled by a lot of cyber-fraudsters masquerading as make-money-online messiahs. He has many passions, some of which include drawing, painting, writing, and watching comic movies. He's on a revenge mission to hit fiendish scammers hard by writing reviews that reveal the truth about their unethical schemes and worthless products. He hopes to stifle their online, bloodsucking businesses by forewarning their potential victims and depriving them of the payments they depend on. You can consider Eugenson a friend who's here to give you objective product reviews, helping you uncover the online vampires and discover genuine opportunities.
