you can safely disclose his name, scammers should always be called out and exposed
I'm not the best person to advise you on SEO since I've stopped doing it 2 years ago, but what I can say is that this forum is a good place to start. And I'm not even being a shill or anything, there's really a lot of (up-to-date) info in here that you won't be needing any expensive SEO course anymore.
But you'll have to look the info up yourself as it takes a bit of time (and the info is probably split up into multiple topics, across multiple sub-forums).
What I can say, however, is that - nowadays - the focus is on content quality, site structure and topical authority. Backlinks still do work, too, of course, but backlinks have been working since ages, that's why I said that the focus is on the other 3 factors.
Here are a few guides that explain the important parts. for more guides you'll have to use the search button yourself (also make sure to check out the "My Journeys" section, as it's pretty interesting):
Topical authority 1...
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/a...e-question-what-is-topical-authority.1450324/
Topical authority 2...
https://www.oncrawl.com/technical-seo/importance-topical-authority-semantic-seo/
Site structure (siloing)...
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/seo-siloing-2023-the-last-siloing-guide-youll-ever-need.1502244/
Content optimization...
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/guide-full-example-of-how-to-do-on-page-seo.1251425/
Link building...
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/guide-how-many-links-per-day-week-or-month-should-i-build.1502403/
My Journeys...
https://www.blackhatworld.com/forums/my-journey-discussions.167/