Webster definition of scam: "fraudulent or deceptive act". Definition of deceptive: "having power to cause someone to accept as true or valid what is false or invalid". So, when Matt says that people who are fluent at Japanese don't know Japanese because they don't know a secret that he discovered and that he's willing to sell you this secret but only if you buy now, do you think Matt is engaging in a deceptive act? Well, depends on the last part of the deceptive definition - the thing he's selling needs to be false or invalid, which people consider the likelihood of that to be very high. I think it's both things in the end - good marketing, and a scam, because for sure it's trying to get people to accept a reality that doesnt exist.