If you have landed on my page it’s because you are struggling to figure out whether or not you’ve been offered a legit collaboration, here are 10 ways to spot a scam collaboration on Instagram.
I remember being new to the Instagram scene a few years back. With years of experience comes invaluable knowledge.
Sometimes these Instagram scams can appear very legit, so it’s important for you to get to know what exactly to look out for when trying to spot an Instagram scam collaboration.
Remember that these fake brands are scammers and they’ll go at great lengths to appear legitimate in order to make a quick buck on top of someone’s dreams.
What is an Instagram collaboration?
An Instagram collaboration is a marketing strategy for achieving growth and greater reach on Instagram.
There are various types of Instagram collaborations where an:
- Influencer and brand work together
- Brand and brand work together
In this case we are referring to an influencer and brand Instagram collaboration. Where a brand offers their services or products in return for the influencers advertising to their audience.
This type of collaboration can be done either on a:
- Gifted basis
- Paid basis
- Affiliate basis
What are the benefits of Instagram collaborations?
The Instagram collaborations can have benefits for both the brand and influencer, such as:
- Increasing their Instagram reach.
- Being shown to new accounts.
- Turns potential leads into sales for the brand.
- Can be a great way to make money.
- Can advance your brand or you as an influencer.
How to spot an Instagram scam collaboration
We’ve all been there, we’ve been offered as an influencer something that may too good to be true.
Blinded by the opportunity you may well fall into the trap of an influencer scam collaboration.
There are many ways by which Instagram collaboration scammers prey on influencers.
Here’s 10 ways to spot a scam collaboration on Instagram.
The “contact us” comment
This type of Instagram scam usually starts in the form of a comment on one of your pictures. The “sales rep” or “marketing outreach” comments and ask you to contact their main brand page.
- That’s red flag number one, generally legitimate brands would never contact you from a sub account and not from their main one.
- Brands generally don’t ask to collaborate in the comment section.
You will find that when you go over to the brand page that they ask you to contact, they generally have:
- A lot of followers, sometimes even over 100k. Which is why you may think it’s legitimate.
- Very few and poor quality likes.
- A feed which doesn’t match a brand in their follower count league.
- Poor engagement rates, such as few comments.
- Very few or no tagged pictures.
The “showcase you to their audience”
Once you contact them, they will generally offer visually appealing products that you may be inticed into accepting.
They will try to convince you by offering you a feature on their Instagram profile exposing you to a big number of followers.
Red flag number 2 – Legitimate brands will never lead the conversation with offering you to be shown to their audience because the purpose of the collaboration is to be showcased to yours.
Brands truly curate their Instagram feed and wouldn’t be able to make that promise till after they see the content you produce. Your content has to match their brand and aesthetics in order to be featured.
The ambassador programme
Some Instagram collaboration scams are a bit more advanced and they will go as far as sending you a private message or even emailing you.
This can be a bit tricky to figure out if you don’t have collaboration experience.
They will tell you that they are looking for brand ambassadors and even go as far as flattering you by saying that your Instagram profile caught their eye.
The “discount trap”
They will offer you a discount on their products for you to buy the product for less and show it to your audience.
As an influencer remember the time that goes in to produce content and market it!
Having to pay for the product even if in part is a big red flag and Instagram collaboration scam.
They will offer to send you a free product after an X amount of sales.
I had a brand ask me for an affiliate collaboration and tell me they would send the product after 10 sales. This is a big no no!
They get your influencer service completely free of charge this way.
It’s like buying groceries and telling the cashier you’ll come back and pay them after 10 shopping trips.
The “affiliate scheme”
There’s also an affiliate program scam that a lot of brands do where they don’t pay your affiliate commission as with smaller brands there’s no way of tracking these.
Bigger brands and legit brands you actually pay for your affiliate sales, generally have a way you can also track your sales such as the affiliate platform Awin.
The “shipping mishap”
These brands will have you believing the collaboration is completely legitimate, they will even go as far as making you choose multiple items and the discount code will show you that you have nothing to pay.
Ahah, but where’s the Instagram collaboration scam here?
Once you add your card details, it will add a ridiculous charge for international shipping. This is a big red flag.
This will most definitely be a collaboration scam.
No real Instagram collaboration will require you to pay for either postage or customs.
Hidden charges withdrawn
If unfortunately you entered your bank account details for the shipping, there is a known Instagram scam collaboration brand called Sara watches which actually charges you a $100 which is inconspicuously taken from your account after a month.
After this charge this brand completely disappears and you are left footing a $100 bill, if you don’t notice immediately they may well withdraw the amount various times.
@meritscurltalks was kind enough to let me share the exact story with you all.
The amazon/Instagram collaboration scam
These brands will ask you to collaborate via amazon and promote the product on your Instagram account.
The big red flag is when they ask you to pay for the item first and promise to refund the amount after you post on Instagram.
They generally do not refund the item and you get stuck with having to pay for the item.
Always make sure that you DO NOT PAY for the product you’ll be advertising.
No real brand would ever ask you to pay and then refund you.
The Shoutout to collaborate scam
Some brands will advertise that they are looking for brand ambassadors and influencers.
In order to be considered for this Instagram collaboration, they will ask you to Shoutout their account on your stories or even Instagram profile.
Once you do that, it’s rare that you will hear back from them as they got the free ads without even having to send you their product, let alone pay you!
By shouting them out on your stories or IG feed you are already doing what they needed you to do. Which is showcasing their “brand” to your audience.
The “It’s too good to be true” Instagram collaboration scam
There’s a famous wise proverb which we’ve all been taught at a young age.
If it’s too good to be true, it’s probably because it is.
A brand and influencer collab relationship is give and take.
As an influencer you are providing a marketing service for a brand.
The quality of your work and/or follower count should reflect the type of work you are doing for the brand, wether it’s paid or gifted.
There is an advanced Instagram collaboration scam where the brand contacts you and has you sign a contract, they even offer you payment for the collaboration.
I urge you to read that contract thoroughly, because one of the terms in one of my contracts explicitly highlighted that if the content and target reach wasn’t achieved, you would not receive payment for the collab and also you would have to be charged for the item.
How to respond to a collaboration offer
As you can tell Instagram collaboration scams can come in many shapes and forms.
Furthermore here is a list of things you must lookout for before you even click on any link they have to offer:
*do not click on any link they send you. Better safe than sorry.
- Go to your website browser and do your research on the brand. Generally, if they’ve scammed someone before it will show up on the Google search.
- Go to their Instagram profile by doing the search yourself and not through any of the links they send you.
- Check what type of followers they have and the people who like their content. Does their follower count match their likes.
- Check their tagged pictures so that you can see which type of influencers they’ve worked with before. If the tagged pictures are blocked, it’s likely they are scammers.
- Make sure you specify to the brand your conditions for the work they want you to provide, so that there are no misunderstandings. Influencers should not pay for products nor shipping.
- Do not give your address out if you have not followed all the Instagram collaboration safety steps above.
Collaboration message template response
If you don’t know how to answer to your collaboration request in the event of a possible Instagram collaboration scam, feel free to copy and paste the following message.
Thank you for contacting me through my private messages. I would appreciate if you could send your full collaboration request via email with all the collaboration information including your terms and conditions.
I have worked with various brands before and at the moment I am accepting gifted/paid collaborations.
My fees are as follows per the media kit I’ve sent you.
This message will allow you to sort the scams from the legitimate requests. Scammers won’t waste their time emailing but if they do the email will be more likely a copy and paste message of what they’ve sent you in your private messages.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions no matter your influencer level of expertise.
I hope this Influencer collaboration scam post was useful and will save you from being disappointed or scammed.
If you have any questions. Ask me below in the comments section.
If you enjoyed this post why not check out my Instagram Hacks for small content creators.
Thank You so much! This was helpful!