Collaboration Scams and How To Avoid Them

If you’re a content creator or influencer, chances are you’ve gotten an email and wondered if it was a legit partnership opportunity or a scam. We’ve seen scams that are trying to access your personal information, hack your account, or even gain free promotion without paying. We’ve put together a few pointers on how you can identify a scam quickly and avoid them.

The email is not an official company email address: The only exception to this is if an agency is reaching out on behalf of the brand, but they agency will also have an official company email address. If it’s coming from gmail, outlook, yahoo, etc, it is a scam.

Links to an Instagram account: Beware of emails containing links prompting you to sign back into Instagram. This tactic is often used to steal passwords and hack your account. We suggest hovering over any links before clicking on them to verify that the website linked is legit.

Paying for shipping and/or products: If a brand asks you to purchase items, even if it's just for shipping costs, it’s likely a scam. Legitimate brands set budgets for products or gift cards for content creators.

Spelling errors: Aside from the occasional typo, if the person emailing you has several spelling or grammatical errors, it is likely a scam.

“DM to collab”: Legitimate brands will not ask you through Instagram comments for a partnership request. They will either find the email on your profile or personally reach out via DM, and likely move the conversation to email.

Trust your gut: If an offer seems too good to be true or feels off, it probably is. For example, if you’re a new creator who has less than 1,000 followers and the brand is willing to pay you $1,000+ to promote their product on Instagram stories, you can assume that it is a scam. You can also verify the person reaching out by seeing who is in charge of marketing and social media by seeing the employees on LinkedIn.

You always need to double check to be sure you’re not being scammed with incoming partnership requests. If you’re a content creator looking to work with more brands, try emailing brands yourself and check out our Pitch Templates for Creators!