Who Is Afnan Khalifa
Afnan Khalifa is a Canadian-based entrepreneur and personal brand expert of Palestinian origin. Raised in Saudi Arabia, she moved to Canada in 2016 and by her own account on LinkedIn, went from working as a waitress to becoming a seven-figure entrepreneur within three years. She has since relocated to Dubai, where she runs her education and consulting business under the company Khalifa Evolution Inc, registered in Toronto, Ontario.
With 1.9 million Instagram followers and 1.1 million TikTok followers, she positions herself as one of the fastest growing personal brand educators in the world.
She sells her courses and programmes under The Brand Code, which has included high-ticket coaching packages and most recently a digital product launch challenge.
Why I Bought Afnan Khalifa’s Course
Late 2024 was a difficult period for my business. After a strong September, growth had stalled through October and November. With limited cashflow to run paid ads, I needed a way to grow organically and fast.
When Afnan Khalifa’s Black Friday promotion landed in my feed, it felt like the answer. Here was someone with 1.9 million Instagram followers and genuinely strong engagement. If anyone knew how to grow a brand on Instagram reels, surely it was her.
The black friday promotion came with time-bound incentives, the kind that make you feel like you’ll miss out if you don’t act immediately. So I bought into her course, excited to dive in and even share it with my part time video editors helping me with my social media videos. I paid $942.55 SGD for The Brand Code: Reels Growth System without stopping to do what I should have done first. Check her reviews.
What The Course Promised
The Brand Code: Reels Growth System was marketed around four core pillars:
- The first 3 seconds that hook people and stop the scroll
- The storytelling that keeps people watching till the end
- The emotional texture that makes viewers actually care
- The strategy that converts viewers into paying clients
The promise was clear: this was not a course about vanity metrics. It was about reach, retention, and real business results. For someone trying to grow organically without an ads budget, it sounded exactly like what I needed.
What Happened After I Paid For The Course
After payment I received an email giving me access to a one-way WhatsApp channel.
I followed the link expecting to land inside the course. Instead, I found myself on a Whop portal staring at a wall of locked content. It was full of upsells, every single one of them. The course I had paid for was nowhere to be found.
I emailed Afnan Khalifa’s team requesting a refund and explaining that I had never received access to the course I paid for. The email was completely ignored.
Weeks later, someone named Tasha from Afnan Khalifa’s team reached out via WhatsApp. While the message briefly asked if I had explored the course materials, it quickly pivoted to promoting a new product, The Launch Code System. I replied clearly. I had never received access to the course I originally paid for, I had already emailed support and I had received no response.
Tasha apologised and asked for the email address I used at purchase, promising to immediately forward my details to the support department. Afnan Khalifa’s support team never followed up. And Tasha is no longer on WhatsApp either.
What Others Are Saying About Afnan Khalifa On Trustpilot
After my experience, I did what I should have done before buying. I searched for reviews on Google. What I found on Trustpilot about Afnan Khalifa stopped me in my tracks.
The reviews fell into two extreme camps. On one end, scathing one-star accounts from buyers describing non-delivery, ignored refund requests, and bait-and-switch tactics. On the other, glowing five-star reviews that read more like marketing copy than genuine customer experiences.
The pattern of suspiciously positive reviews told its own story. I wish I had seen all of this before handing over $942 SGD.
It is also worth noting that many buyers likely paid far more than I did. Her programmes range into the thousands of dollars, and her Whop portal is built around upsells. There are almost certainly people who bought deeper into her ecosystem and are too embarrassed to speak publicly about it.
Is Afnan Khalifa Running A Scam?
That is a question many buyers are now asking openly. The Trustpilot reviews use words like fraud, pyramid scheme, and bait and switch. Multiple buyers report paying significant sums, some as high as $21,000 USD, and receiving little to nothing in return.
What I can tell you from my own experience is this: I paid for a course, I never received access, my refund request was ignored, and the support escalation went nowhere. Around the same period, Afnan Khalifa’s Instagram account went down temporarily, something that did not go unnoticed among her following and added further uncertainty for buyers who had already paid for her programmes.
Whether what she is doing constitutes a legal scam is for regulators and courts to determine. What I can say is that the pattern of complaints is consistent, documented, and hard to dismiss.
What I Wish I Had Known Before Buying
- Check reviews before purchasing.
A simple Google search before buying would have changed my decision entirely. Search the creator’s name or course name followed by “reviews”, or search their names followed by “scam”. You will be surprised what comes up. With AI models now widely available, you can also ask ChatGPT or Claude about them directly, though always verify what AI tells you against real sources. Make this a non-negotiable step before purchasing any online course, regardless of how credible the creator appears.
- Follower count does not equal credibility.
1.9 million followers is impressive. But it is not a guarantee that someone can teach, deliver, or be trusted with your money. Audience size, social media engagement and business integrity are two completely different things.
- Ask around before making any big purchase.
Don’t let Black Friday urgency tactics rush you into a decision. Before spending a significant amount on any course or coaching programme, take the time to research the person and the digital course they are selling thoroughly online and ask within your own network. A conversation with someone who has bought from them before is worth more than any sales page.
My Verdict around Afnan Khalifa
I lost $942.55 SGD to Afnan Khalifa’s Black Friday promotion at one of the most difficult periods of SEO With Senthil. My business was not bringing in new clients. I was relying on my wife’s savings for our family’s living expenses. As a solo founder, I was navigating all of it alone, and a course that promised organic growth felt like exactly what I needed.
I never received access to the course I paid for. My refund request was ignored. The support escalation led nowhere. And the team member who promised to help is no longer on WhatsApp.
I am sharing this not out of bitterness but to help other business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs make a more informed decision than I did. Over the years I have spent on courses, services, and programmes that promised results and delivered nothing. Those painful experiences as a business owner are exactly why I started SEO With Senthil. SEO With Senthil (recently renamed to SeedScale Pte Ltd) is a SEO agency in Singapore built specifically to help small business owners get a real return from their SEO efforts, not just reports that move nothing for their business.
If you are a small business owner in Singapore looking for honest, results-driven SEO help, feel free to check out our complimentary SEO audit and competitor gap analysis.
If you are considering buying any of Afnan Khalifa’s courses or programmes, do your research first. Search her name. Read the Trustpilot about Afnan Khalifa. Ask around. And think twice before letting a Black Friday countdown timer make the decision for you.
If you need to contact her company directly, her registered business is Khalifa Evolution Inc, based in Toronto, Ontario. You can try and reach them at management@theafnankhalifa.com or info@thebrandcodes.com.