TubeBuddy YT Sponsorship Scams

[Stanley | Team TB]

What if your video is outside of the US? We did a few hotel stays in exchange for a video. Is it a problem if they are in Nepal? The value was always under $100. I can take each video down and update it, but I'd rather not if it's no big deal for unmonetized channels in Asia, although I am from the US.

That's a little different, and so long as you are not being cheated you should be fine. What JE and others are referring too are these companies that are basically trying to get you to buy their product on Amazon in exchange for a product review... but then they never reimburse you for the purchase or follow through with whatever scam deal they offer. A lot of these offers are obvious and blatant, but sometimes they can actually string together a pretty good scam.

 

[The Jungle Explorer]

What if your video is outside of the US? We did a few hotel stays in exchange for a video. Is it a problem if they are in Nepal? The value was always under $100. I can take each video down and update it, but I'd rather not if it's no big deal for unmonetized channels in Asia, although I am from the US.

The FTC is a US Government institution and has no authority to enforce laws in other countries. However, they do have authority over YouTube because YouTube is an American company. I doubt very seriously they are worried about you doing a hotel review in a foreign country. I think a lot of Tubers get such perks once businesses find out they are tubers. I would not worry about this.

I have built a well-known brand around Jungle Explorer that covers way more than YouTube. I have secured accounts under The Jungle Explorer all over the internet for the last 20 years. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Google Local, Yelp, TripAdvisor, etc. If a business finds out who I am when I am there, they will seldom charge me for service. I never ask for it, but they just refuse to let me pay. So, I have to be very discreet about it to preserve the integrity of my brand, which is about honest reviews. It's kind of like being a food critic. But also, I like to promote small local mom-and-pop businesses, if they are doing a good job. So, if a new local restaurant opened up, I will go to them and do a free professional style photoshoot of their establishment and their dishes, and create their listing with the top review sites like Google Local, Yelp, and TripAdvisor. So many small businesses don't even know how to do this, and it is really a shot in the arm for them to get them started off running. Of course, these businesses know who I am so, when I visit them, I get the red carpet.

 

[malditzTV]

So ever since I got monetized, I have been getting a steady flow of "Sponsorship" emails that made me think: This is it! I finally made it!

I honestly thought I untapped the fountain of success and that my dreams were coming true... But after carefully reviewing the emails in detail and few google searches later, I realized that ALL of these opportunities were scams. Luckily I was conditioned enough to never open a link or download any files from an email address that I don't recognize. Upon some research, some people were not so lucky and ended up getting their YouTube account hacked/stolen.

Hints on spotting a scam:
1. Email addresses with .cz at the end
2. Grammar or spelling mistakes throughout the email
3. Different "mail:to'" email address when you hover your mouse over the sender's email address
4. Any action that requires you to download something for you to see the "schedule" or "options"
5. Any action that requires you to click a link that leads to a download of a zip file or something else
6. Offers too good to be true
7. When you google search their email address or website, you get nothing but reddit posts asking if it is a scam

It is unfortunate for us hungry content creators because we are keen to jump on opportunities as it presents it self and that there are malicious people in this world that wants to take advantage of that.

This isn't to say that ALL sponsor emails are scams but most of em are and you should be careful out there.

If you had any experience in this, feel free to share below!

Cheers

KS

hayyss scammer people!!!

 

[KS Moto Cafe]

hayyss scammer people!!!

Yes.

 

[KS Moto Cafe]

Since posting this, I just wanted to update those following this thread that I have had few successful sponsored products sent to me and they were legit. I did find that for every 1 real company wanting to send me real products, there were about 5 fake companies phishing for info. I also had real companies reaching out for collaboration but their products had nothing to do with my niche, so I politely rejected them (IE bicycle or car accessory companies wanting a feature on my motorcycle channel).

So since my midway updated post, here are few more updated tips:

1. To be extra safe, it is important that you use an email account that is not linked to your YouTube channel (IE don't share the same Gmail account that you used to create your YouTube channel) to communicate with sponsors/collaborators. This way, if you do happen to make a mistake and your gmail account gets stolen, your YouTube channel still survives.

2. Google does a pretty decent job filtering out the SCAM sponsor emails and putting them in your SPAM folder but do check those every few days because I did find some of those filtered emails to be a legit sponsorship inquiry from a real company.

3. Don't click any links sent to you without hovering your mouse over the link and make sure it is 100% matching the description. Even when it matches, I like to do a quick google search of their company's name to make sure it is a true company.

4. These sponsors who reached out to you, are the ones that need you more than you need them. So if their demand is too large or too much work for you, negotiate the terms to your liking.

5. Have fun and be creative with it! Nothing to lose (unless you get scammed..)!

 

[MattCommand1]

KS,

I very much appreciate you sharing your post and info. It is boots on the ground info you are sharing.

Because you and a couple other mentions, I have been careful to separate and sever the email I use for my YT channel.

There was another Youtuber who is very upset that her personal FB account was deleted without any explanation thereby orphaning her two public facing FB pages. It startled me and a lot of her followers. I instituted two-factor authentication on FB and IG as I do not want to suffer a similar fate.

I think the due diligence you did to verify these sponsor offers is commendable and great advice!

 

[Wilson IS]

Você está certo. De alguma forma eu me desviei do alcance! LOL! Me desculpe por isso.

Além disso, não quis dizer que alguém é um vendido se fizer avaliações de produtos gratuitos. Eu estava me referindo principalmente a alguém tentando dar a você um produto de US $ 30 para revisar em troca de uma análise de vídeo do YT. Um vídeo básico pode facilmente levar de 6 a 8 horas para ser feito e, em seguida, você recebe um produto de US$ 30 como pagamento. Você vê como a matemática pode não ser boa?

É meu mal por estragar totalmente este tópico. Peço desculpas à comunidade por isso. É direito de todo criador de conteúdo fazer qualquer acordo que quiser, mas eu só queria ajudar a defender o criador de conteúdo para que ele tenha o cuidado de não abrir mão de seu tempo, canal, nome e público sem receber o valor total em troca. Claro, "valor total" é altamente subjetivo.

Meus sentimentos não são para insultar ninguém, eu apenas odeio ver as pessoas sendo aproveitadas. Então, às vezes eu fico animado falando sobre determinados assuntos.

E KS, você me parece bastante experiente porque está fazendo boas perguntas. Eu valorizo suas contribuições e espero que você seja um regular e continue a misturar-se conosco.
[/CITAR]

 

[Wilson IS]

mas o desvio não foi ruim porque eu aprendi sobre isso também obrigado