Viral video marketing scam costs man thousands

JACKSON, Tenn. — The Better Business Bureau is alerting us to a new scam that affected someone not too far from here.

The influencer marketing industry is looking to make $30 billion this year. A lot of people are looking to tap into this market by creating viral videos.

Toddnetta Trice, with the BBB of the Mid-South, tells us what happened to one man recently.

The man thought he found the perfect opportunity to break into influencer marketing.

“They claimed that they were a group working together,” Trice said. “So once they came up with a plan, they requested that first payment, but that was a red flag. The first payment was requested in coin-based Bitcoin. So they didn’t want any type of like cash, Cash App, PayPal, or anything like that. They wanted straight Bitcoin.”

He was led on for months.

“The victim handed over the passwords, usernames, and all of the information for his social media accounts,” Trice said. “After some time and dishing out over $14,000, he realized his videos were not going viral.”

Trice also reminds us of some important details to make sure we do not fall victim to a scam like this one.

“Do not trust people that you meet in chatrooms, because you never really know who you may be talking to. You never give out your logins or passwords, because you don’t know and it may be impossible to recover your account. So now if he is trying to get into his social media and is threatening for money, they can change the passwords to his account,” Trice said.

If this is an area of business you are looking to get into, there are plenty of other options that could help you out.

“Make sure you look for other options,” said Trice. “Look at Eventbrite. There are things like workshops, popups, classes, books that you can read in order to organically grow your account.”

You should ask very specific questions about someone’s work if you are wanting to go into business with them. You should also always try to meet in person.

You are always encouraged to report any suspicious incident to the BBB.

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