Author of the linked blog post here. Understand the skepticism. But get rich schemes, credit repair, and real estate are all prohibited from using Stripe—they're against our terms of service (
https://stripe.com/restricted-businesses#unfair-predatory-or...). Many of these businesses predictably see chargebacks from customers since their services don't pan out. We (and the credit card networks) carefully monitor for this activity and move these businesses off Stripe, and they're excluded from the data in blog post. We've also only analyzed legitimate businesses, and the Teachable example is one of them.
Get rich schemes have always had the tools to sell and market their stuff—snake oil and Nigerian princes have been around since the beginning of the internet. What's different about the past year (and what the big jump can be attributed to) is that creators have the tools now—from streaming services to newsletter platforms. More individuals are equipped to pursure their passions—selling their books, art, or podcasts—motivated by the largest audience that's ever been online, due to 2020's accelerated shift. As the post says, the category that was fastest growing over the past year was community—connecting real people with each other, surrounding the output of these creators.