“Being a legislation pupil, I by no means thought I might ever turn into a sufferer of scammers. However final 12 months, I misplaced Rs 1 lakh after a small style model emailed me for collaboration. The corporate turned out to be non-existent–it was an unregistered entity,” a life-style creator mentioned on the situation of anonymity.
Within the period of social media, creators–big or small–have turn into one of many softest targets for hackers and fraudsters.
Ritesh Ujjwal, co-founder of Kofluence, mentioned there are a number of sorts of scams rising from the rising curiosity in changing into a creator. One such rip-off is the steadily rising ‘work-from-home’ repost rip-off, which is focusing on aspiring creators. In these instances, fraudsters promise funds for reposting content material however first demand cash within the type of registration charges, product purchases, or entry charges to a marketing campaign. As soon as the preliminary fee is made, the scammers disappear.
Ujjwal highlighted one other digital malpractice known as “knowledge harvesting schemes”, the place people impersonate authentic manufacturers to steal private knowledge and account credentials from creators. These scammers might mimic actual model handles or web sites, altering solely a letter or image to trick creators into sharing delicate info.
Nevertheless, the first goal of the hackers or scammers are sometimes not the creators themselves however their followers. Annkur P Aggarwal, founding father of Mango Creations, defined, “When hackers take over a YouTube channel, they typically change its title and persuade customers to make fraudulent transactions. On Instagram, they instantly message followers asking for cash”.
Consultants say nano influencers (1,000- 10,000 followers) and micro influencers (10,000 to 100,000 followers) are particularly weak to frauds, scams, and extortions. Creators who handle their very own accounts, juggle a number of linked companies, and reuse passwords are prime targets for phishing, account takeovers, and SIM-swap scams, Sujit Patel, CEO & MD of SCS Tech India Pvt. Ltd mentioned.
Hitarth Dadia, CEO and Accomplice, NOFILTR.GROUP, identified that giant creators are sometimes higher protected against scams and pretend collaborations as a result of they’ve expertise and enterprise managers dealing with operational particulars. Nevertheless, they face a higher danger of mental property theft. “We have now seen instances the place people or coordinated teams, posing as businesses, strategy top-tier creators to extract proprietary content material methods and viewers insights for aggressive intelligence,” Ujjwal added.
Consultants have additionally famous a pattern–creators from non-metro cities are simpler targets.
Based on an IAMAI report, greater than 60% of India’s web customers are from non-metro areas, which suggests a majority of the nation’s on-line viewers comes from smaller cities and cities. Because of this, many new creators are rising from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. Nevertheless, as a result of these creators typically lack casual information networks, trade occasions, and company help, they’re much less more likely to have entry to natural warning methods that assist stop fraud.
Ujjwal additionally identified that scammers exploit language boundaries in smaller cities. “They could flow into provides or contracts in English or intentionally advanced language to confuse creators or get them to comply with unfavourable phrases,” he mentioned.
It is not simply particular person hackers focusing on creators–agencies are additionally exploiting the gold rush within the creator economic system.
Storyboard18 spoke to a dozen nano and micro Instagram influencers, a lot of whom admitted they’d been sufferer of faux collaborations or monetary fraud not less than as soon as. Most shared experiences of manufacturers or businesses ghosting them when requested for funds. One creator even took a authorized motion towards a Gurugram-based influencer advertising company that had a tie-up with a serious ecommerce platform.
“I labored on 4-5 movies for the platform, however when the fee time got here, I used to be made to attend for 4-5 months and nonetheless did not get my charges,” the creator mentioned.
An trade knowledgeable claimed that a number of shell firms have sprung up in Delhi-NCR focusing on smaller creators–asking them to movie product content material, then ghosting them or delaying funds for months.
Whereas most manufacturers and businesses function in good religion, issues usually come up from a couple of dangerous actors or center managers who misrepresent alternatives or delay essential communications.
Aggarwal shared one such incident, “A D2C iPhone cowl model requested my firm to create a video advert. We delivered, however after receiving the video, they lower all ties with us and used the content material on their platforms with out paying”.
One other creator with eight lakh followers mentioned that she avoids influencer advertising businesses totally. “These businesses take 20% of the price manufacturers provide. Some focus solely on huge creators, which means giant model offers slip away from us. And even when we safe a deal independently, we nonetheless should pay them their 20%,” mentioned Vanshika (title modified).
‘Safety by platforms’
Creators at the moment have restricted safety towards fraud and id theft on platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat. Whereas Instagram provides verified enterprise badges and a Creator Security program, its focus is basically on defending advertisers from fraud moderately than creators. YouTube additionally runs creator security consciousness packages, which primarily handle copyright points and monetization protections, which do not cowl social engineering assaults.
“We run a group known as Creators Camp the place folks can take steering from senior creators and share experiences. We additionally arrange on-line occasions known as CreatorsCamp.in,” Aggarwal mentioned.
Nevertheless, LinkedIn might help creators confirm whether or not a model’s e mail ID is authentic by permitting them to analysis the corporate profile and area.
‘What does Indian legislation say?’
The Indian authorized framework provides a number of cures for creators who fall sufferer to scams.
The Data Know-how Act, 2000, criminalises id theft (Part 66C), dishonest by personation (66D), and privateness violations (66E), with extra protections underneath the Indian Penal Code for defamation and on-line harassment. The Digital Private Information Safety Act, 2023, provides a contemporary privateness layer. Victims ought to report incidents by way of the Nationwide Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (cybercrime.gov.in) and coordinate with native police for FIRs, whereas preserving all digital proof, Patel mentioned.
Sonam Chandwani, Managing Accomplice KS Authorized & Associates, defined that influencers in India focused by impersonation or faux collaboration scams can search safety underneath a number of authorized provisions, although the cures are scattered throughout statutes. Essentially the most quick treatment is to file a grievance with the cybercrime cell for impersonation and fraud underneath the IT Act.
Concurrently, felony expenses underneath the Indian Penal Code could be filed for forgery, defamation, and dishonest. Whereas there’s no particular statute solely for influencers, their picture and likeness are protected underneath common character rights, permitting them to hunt injunctions and compensation for unauthorized use. Platforms internet hosting fraudulent content material are additionally legally required to behave upon complaints; failure to take action may price them their liable immunity.
The person or entity participating in impersonation or faking collaborations faces each felony and civil penalties. Criminally, such offences can result in imprisonment of as much as three to seven years together with fines underneath the IT Act and IPC. Moreover, any income earned by means of faux collaborations could be seized for restitution.
Cybersecurity knowledgeable Ritesh Bhatia advises small creators to confirm manufacturers by means of official web sites and firm e mail IDs, and to stay cautious even when contacted by way of Gmail accounts. He additionally recommends insisting on formal contracts and by no means sharing private particulars over DMs.
“If a proposal feels too good to be true, it’s often a rip-off in disguise,” he mentioned.
“I at all times verify the sender’s e mail id, confirm info on Google, and request the company’s GST quantity to make sure the corporate is authentic”, mentioned Shubhi, a life-style creator.
For bigger creators, managing and filtering offers is less complicated. However for smaller creators, the need for fast success typically makes them extra weak to scammers, mentioned a monetary creator.
Aggarwal added that he solely makes a model video stay after receiving funds. “I by no means share the video until the cash is paid”.
Widespread purple flags embody generic Gmail or Yahoo addresses like xyzbrandcollab@gmail.com as an alternative of knowledgeable area, poor grammar or spelling in communication, pressing calls to behave comparable to “Solely 3 spots left!” or “Pay at the moment!”, requests for upfront cash, suspicious hyperlinks like insta-verification.information, and no verifiable presence on LinkedIn or the model’s official web site.
“To remain safe, creators ought to allow multi-factor authentication (ideally by way of authenticator apps), use distinctive passwords saved in a password supervisor, and lock SIM playing cards with service port-out restrictions. Sustaining separate skilled and private accounts, usually revoking unused third-party app entry, and verifying unsolicited model approaches earlier than engagement can additional scale back the chance of compromise,” Patel mentioned.
