Just when I thought I’d seen every method grifters use to extract money from people in the Pokémon community, someone comes along and raises the grifting bar. Case in point: PokeHEX, a mid-tier Pokémon influencer, announced on X that for $99 a month, he will be your VIP friend on X.
This is what he posted:
I just launched PokeHEX VIP on X
And yes… it’s $99/month
I intentionally priced this very differently from a normal creator subscription
This isn’t about locking my normal content behind a paywall. Nothing changes there.
This is for the small group of people who want much closer access to me:
🔹 Direct DM access + priority Pokemon Q&A
🔹 Monthly private Pokemon Spaces
🔹 VIP Pokemon perks
🔹 Occasional VIP-only thoughts/opportunitiesI honestly have no idea how many people will want something like this — maybe 3 people, maybe 30 — but I’d rather keep it small enough that I can actually interact with everyone who joins
PokeHEX VIP is officially open
PokeHEX is ‘officially open’ about wanting to grift
I don’t know what’s worse: asking people to pay $99 a month to get your “occasional VIP-only thoughts,” or actually paying for that privilege. Just kidding! It’s worse to present the proposition. It’s an attempt to take advantage of simple-minded rubes with too much available credit on their credit card.
Make no mistake, anyone who would pay $99 a month for this VIP program is simple-minded.
The problem with what PokeHEX is doing is that he is casting too wide a net. If he were only trying to grift Pokémon enthusiasts in the Epstein class, I probably wouldn’t have a problem with it. Probably. My issue is he’s offering this program to everyone, not just to the economically advantaged. It’s entirely possible he’ll snare financially illiterate rubes who can’t afford the $99 a month to be his fake friend.
Televangelists have raked in millions of dollars over the years doing that.
Plus, most Pokémon fans that have an extra $99 a month to waste will choose to waste it on Pokémon cards.
In Conclusion
It’s only a matter of time until PokeHEX backtracks and retracts this stupid attempt to rip people off. The only question is how long it will take him to come to his senses. Even though I follow him on X, I don’t know anything about him. I’ve never watched his content on YouTube. I don’t know if he’s extremely stubborn or is able to admit when he is wrong.
The general consensus on X concerning this program is extremely negative. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Pokémon community on X so united about something.