The Silent Shout Out – Avoiding the Social Media Endorsement Fraud

This piece provides insights on how to steer clear of fraudsters on social networking sites like Instagram. These con artists promise to boost your online presence by offering followers, likes, and product sales through a promotional tactic known as a ‘shout out’.

How to identify if you have been scammed.

If you’ve purchased a shout-out and noticed a sudden increase in followers, scrutinise their profiles. These accounts usually show little to no activity, have minimal posts, and their posts lack significant engagement. In one instance, a scammer added a hundred new followers to their victim’s account in under an hour. Each ‘follower’ had seven posts on their profile and no activity for the past year.

After a legitimate shout out, you should see a consistent flow of engagement, not a sudden spike followed by silence. The internet operates around the clock, so genuine interest should spread over at least a day, gradually diminishing over a few days as the shout-out account’s audience has the chance to see your content and decide whether to engage with it or not. That post should continue to attract a trickle of attention for a considerable time.

‘But,’ you object, ‘the shout-out account has 750K followers! Surely that can’t be faked!’

 A high number of followers is not proof of authenticity

You can determine if a shout-out account is authentic by examining its engagement level. Look at the average number of likes per post. For example, Jenna Coleman, of ‘Doctor Who’ fame, has a million followers, and her posts garner between 50k to 100k likes, which is a 5-10% engagement rate, showing a genuine account. Conversely, accounts with a million followers but only 300 likes per post have an engagement rate of 0.3%, suggesting the account and its followers are fake.

Spotting a social media shout-out scam:

• Unsolicited offers are a red flag.
• The account lacks widespread recognition. Legitimate offers from reputable sources like National Geographic are a different story, but they’re unlikely to reach out unless you’re already a notable figure.
• The account’s engagement rate is low. The number of followers is irrelevant if they’re not genuine.
• The account hides its engagement statistics. While genuine accounts may choose privacy, commercial shout out accounts only do this to conceal the lack of engagement.
• They request payment.
• They ask for money through PayPal without sending an official payment request.
• They hound you with direct messages to pressure you into accepting their offer.
• They make unrealistic promises, such as assuring that all followers will be from a specific country, which is something they cannot control.

Recommendation

If you’re approached with a DM offering a shout out, proceed with extreme caution; it’s likely a scam. The best course of action is to block them, delete the message, and move on.