That brand campaign in your inbox is a scam...

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Author

Brittany Hennessy
August 11, 2024

Campaign Closer

The scammers have arrived in full force and quite frankly I am tired of it.

I’m sure you’ve been getting some wild emails in your inbox lately and you’re not the only one.

As someone on the brand side, if you’re casting a campaign from a third-party (like an agency, publisher, or platform), unless your company has really good name recognition it can be hard for creators to think you’re not a scammer.

And AI is not helping. Some of these message are getting REALLY good and because they can scrape the internet for email addresses, and TikTokers are constantly posting private brand contacts on a public forum, even the address the scammers are sending from look legit.

WHY ARE WE STILL LIVING LIKE THIS IN 2024?

Let’s get into it.

But fiiiiirst… If you haven’t already joined my community I have no idea what you’re waiting for. Three reasons you should join? A testimonial? A promo code? Ok I’ll bite.

This could be you… but you’re not in the community. 😂

  1. You can DM me and I’ll respond. So when a fake campaign lands in your inbox, or it’s a legit campaign but you don’t know what to charge, you can just ask me and I’ll help you. And if you want community advice/feedback, everyone is dope and will help you out.

  2. My network is always looking for influencers and I post the opportunities here. Just listed in the past week: free tickets to CultureCon, a Rent The Runway YouTube campaign, a collab with a major pet brand, a major home brand, a major hair brand, etc. You get the picture.

  3. I just rolled out lifetime memberships. You can get started for literally $25. I know you’re about to spend that on some nonsense on TikTok shop so invest in yourself instead.

“I joined #theIBP and applied to a hair campaign listed. The deliverables were easy, the client paid ON TIME, and I made $5,000. I’ll never quit this community. Never not ever.” ~ Community member since 2021.

If you’re ready to go you can join here.

If you need to read the whole sales page, you can do that and then join here.

We’re still in vacay mode so code SUMMER will get you an easy, breezy, beautiful discount.

OK now back to the chaos.

Scammers. Scammers everywhere.

An Icon. A Legend. IDC IDC IDC.

An influencer I follow received a scam email from a top beauty brand and she posted it all proud. The comment section was so excited for her and sadly I had to sliiiide into her DMs real quick and tell her it was a scam.

But all’s well that ends well because the beauty brand reached out to her and now they are working together for real!

Another influencer posted a carousel of all the scam emails she’s received and the comments are LIT. Of course Instagram refreshed just as I was about to share it to stories and now it’s gone forever. If I find it I’ll share, but here’s the gist…

It’s usually from a PR manager telling you they love your work and want to collab. AI is learning hella quick because some of these were really good and perfectly personalized.

Then they tell you they are going to send you X amount of items per month and you’ll get paid when you post. The rate is something that’s pretty good, but not too crazy, like $3K per month. Who doesn’t love a long-term brand deal?

Finally they let you know if you like the deal and want in, they’ll send you the paperwork.

THIS is where they get you because they’ll probably ask for a W9 form (which has your name, address, and social security number unless you have an EIN… please get an EIN.) And then they’ll ask for an ACH form so they can send payment (which will have your bank info.) Sometimes they’ll ask for your PayPal which may seem safe, but a good hacker can do damage with that.

This information is ok to send to a legitimate brand, but to a scammer? Hot mess identity theft city. I reaaaaaaally wish one of these would make it’s way to me so I can see how the scam plays out. If you have one, give a shout.

Normally there are the telltale signs but it’s getting tougher:

  • Poor spelling/grammar (but AI is getting really good)

  • A company you’ve never heard of (but there are SO many legit creator economy companies you’ve never heard of)

  • Terms that seem too good to be true (but sometimes brand deals really are thought out and amazing)

So what can you do?

  1. Double and triple check the email it came from. A gmail is a pretty good sign that it’s not legit. If there’s a company domain, look up their website, Instagram, and LinkedIn. If they look shady, they probably are shady, and you should run far away.

  2. Wait 24 hours and then read it again. Sometimes you’re SO excited that someone has FINALLY noticed your hard work that you totally miss all the red flags and dive right in. Brands love speedy communication, but 24 hours is an acceptable amount of time to wait t protect yourself.

  3. Send it to your (influencer) friends and ask them what they think. They will think anything and everything is sus, so if it passes their test you can proceed with caution. If you don’t have anyone to send it to, refer to the beginning of this email when I told you to join my community and then send it to me.

It’s absolutely amazing that our industry is maturing the way it is, but it also makes all of us bigger targets.

Publish the content, know your worth, and find your tribe. If you can do that, you’ll be golden.

I’ll see you on the internet.

☎️ If you want to book a 1:1 call with me… you can do that here.

👋🏾 If you want to purchase a lifetime membership to my community… you can learn more and join here.

🏆 If you want to enroll in my Brand Campaign Boot Camp you can do that here.

📩 Anything else, just hit that reply button or email [email protected] and let me know!

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