If you look up the source of mitoch shelo lishma, you will find that it only works if your intention is to become lishma. It’s not supposed to be bogus. If your intention is only to help yourself, then, yes, like moish said, you’re a fake and it won’t work. You can start doing it for other reasons, as long as your intention is to do it for the other person’s sake not just to get what you want. It’s like an incentive.
~a~