How To Avoid A Scam
And make the story afterwards entertaining.
To me they seemed genuine. They just wanted to help my Youtube channel grow.
Sure there were a few red flags along the way. Their emails being their first name followed by a series of numbers. The fact they were using some kind of poorly translated script when they approached me about their services.
But I ignored the signs.
I reached out to the person and started to chat with them. After all, I just started my Youtube channel once again, and it would be nice to see my channel grow from the start.
I’m reasonably pleased with how my first video back turned out.
So ensuring I would get more eyeballs on it, along with more people subscribing and liking the video, I’d be well on my way to monetization.
Although my ultimate goal right now is to just be consistent with my uploads.
After I sent that first message responding back to them, the conversation gradually became the text book example of a scam. I already knew going in that the circumstances were sketchy and the pitch itself was not that great.
The only reason I was indulging in these individuals is they sounded legitimate and the services they were offering were above board. They said they would be using actual tools to help rank Youtube videos and use those same strategies to boost my videos.
No weird bots to create fake engagement. No AI.
The marketer even had a Fiverr account where she would offer those services.
But little did I know about how deep and sad this rabbit hole would go.
To start, the marketer I was talking to took some time for me to reason with. I made it clear that I have no budget for this and my main goal is to just be uploading videos for the time being.
The days leading up to the meeting that we arranged, I even worked on a little spreadsheet to help with organizing videos and figure out how I want to be writing my Youtube scripts. That spreadsheet would also serve as a secondary purpose to the second issue that I ran into.
The marketer asked me for administrative access to my Youtube channel.
I’d still be the owner, but in the Youtube Studio section under permissions, you’re able to give various people permission in various capacities. Based on those permissions, they’re able to do certain things in the backend when a video is uploaded.
The thing is, I wasn’t comfortable with giving her permission. The circumstances around this were still weird and if she was serious about helping me, she’d be okay without access to my channel.
I should know because I asked my own marketer whom I’ve been working with for years whether giving access is necessary.
As such, the spreadsheet I made for Youtube would serve that secondary purpose. Not only would it outline future videos, but the marketer could include video descriptions and related tags in the fields I provided her. After all, these particular services were simply that.
The other alternative would’ve been getting on a call during the upload process and they could just tell me what to do.
And yet… the marketer persisted on saying she needed administrative access.
Eventually I was able to talk some sense into her and arrange a meeting for Wednesday. It felt like things were ironed out and that the meeting would be an opportunity for me to learn more about the marketer I’ll be working with and discuss the plan I had in mind.
Though in the back of my mind, I did remind myself that someone else would be joining the call. After all, the marketer dropped the word “agency” a few times in our conversation.
Wednesday rolled around and that was when things devolved even more.
I didn’t hear from the marketer for the past two days, despite the fact she said she’d confirm the date with me the day before. I figured she forgot about it but it wasn’t that big of a deal.
So I sent her a message to ask about the meeting and whether we’re all good for it.
She said she was, and that she sent me an invite link to our Zoom meeting. Normally when a meeting is scheduled, one would get an email sent to them mentioning the details of the meeting and a link to join up.
I checked my inbox…. and no email.
The marketer already had my email address, but after more back and forth and telling her I can’t join a meeting without a link, I sent her my email address again.
Instead of inviting me, she just started a conversation all over again. She insisted that she sent me an invite link for the Zoom meeting and asked me to join.
Meanwhile, she didn’t send me an invite and I was still in the process of waking up and asked for the meeting to start in an hour from now.
After more messaging, and Google warning me that the email was the source of a phishing scam (since y’know this “marketing agency” has people’s emails as their name with a bunch of random numbers following after it) and no invite link or meeting scheduled, I went onto Zoom myself. Just in case Zoom is one of those platforms where you get a pop up if someone sent you an invite or something.
Seeing as I didn’t, I scheduled the meeting myself and sent the marketer the invite.
And she immediately joined it before asking me to join yet again.
She was lucky that I have the patience of a rock because any sensible person at this point would’ve skipped the meeting. But in the back of my mind, this was amusing to me.
Getting into the meeting a bit earlier, it was at this point I was introduced to the second person of this scam. The actual pitch guy.
And it seemed like he didn’t get the memo at all.
To me it felt like the guy and the marketer didn’t talk to one another at all until the actual meeting. I say this because his pitch covered exactly the two details that I discussed at length with the marketer.
It seemed like there was no communication between them at all despite the fact he said the marketer was his “business partner”.
He began with a proof of concept for his service by showing off his channel and view count. Just to show me that he was a real person and that he has a Youtube account and uploads on a regular basis.
From that point he started to talk about pricing, mentioning that he had several packages but the general price he charges is $120 USD per video. I honestly couldn’t catch a lot of it because there was a strong accent barrier.
Either way his asking price was $120 USD over what I intended to pay for these services. And it was here that I went back through the same thing I told the marketer. The only difference was the guy wasn’t really having it.
He then started to speak to the marketer in their native tongue.
While I just sat there.
Having no clue what they were talking about.
We reached some kind of “compromise” at that point and the guy said he has a deal where he would boost two videos for free but after that I would have to pay.
And it was at that point where he talked to me about giving access to him so he could work on those videos.
The pieces were starting to fall into place at this point. I understood why the marketer didn’t send me the Zoom link to start this whole meeting. Even though she was a young woman (I’m guessing in her 20s), she had no skill at all navigating a computer it seemed.
I say this because, as a marketer, the pitch guy had to repeat multiple times to her to go through Youtube Studio — accessible by clicking you icon in the top right corner — then to select permissions section.
She then put her own business partner’s email address incorrectly multiple times before finally getting it right.
Meanwhile me, someone who can at least navigate a website, was saying several times I already know how to do all this. The one good thing about Youtube is the UI is pretty easy to grasp.
What should’ve taken a few seconds at most was a 5 or 6 minute ordeal.
All to show me something that I already knew how to do.
At this point my head was in my hand while I looked at the screen and seeing the marketer scramble around. Seeing as we’re going through the same song and dance, I mentioned to him that if we’re to work together, I’m not giving access for the first little while until I know I can trust them.
Because I made this into a debate about trust, the pitch guy and I were arguing back and forth about this.
“You can remove admin access at any time you want.”
“Yes, but I’m not going to give you access. You don’t need it.”
“I do need it because the tags that the tool generates requires access to your specific channel. If I don’t have access, the tags it would generate would be for my channel.”
“What sort of tool are you using? I know you don’t need access to do any of the services you offered.”
“We’re not using a tool, but we do need access.”
“Well you’re not getting access, I don’t trust you.”
“Why not? I want to be helping you. I already work with 15 other clients across the US, UK, and Canada.”
“That’s nice, but that is them and this is me. I’m not them. I don’t trust you with giving you access.”
“Alright, I guess there’s some accessibility issues so maybe we can discuss this further down the road?”
“Sure, why not.”
The guy left and I soon left after that.
Not long after I got a text from the marketer who asked me how I was doing and whether I understand.
Understand what?
The work, she said.
The exchange played out in the exact same way, except this time, she just finished the conversation after I told her she wasn’t getting access to my Youtube account the first time.
Something tells me I won’t be hearing back from them.
With the rise of AI, it is much easier to scam people than one can imagine. Between Google being able to rank a scam website over a legitimate business to freelance platforms not screening for any scammers, scammers can create an air of legitimacy to their claims and offer bogus services.
In all likelihood, if I did accept their offer and was willing to spend a few hundred dollars boosting my views, they would go up, but my channel would take a hit from Google later down the road and my channel would suffer as a result.
The only reason I was entertaining them was the fact they were talking about improving tags, video titles, and descriptions. In other words, things that any marketer could do with ease.
But seeing them focus so much on getting access to my channel and making several business mistakes along the way, it was clear these individuals weren’t great or legitimate. And if they were legit, then they really need to make their business model less scammy-looking and actually communicate with one another.
But for the sake of the argument, let’s say this was a scam.
If it was, then the scenario I went through was both sad, but incredibly valuable. While I was able to navigate through that whole mess and share a funny story afterwards, it’s also sad because there are those who absolutely fell for this.
They fell for the marketer who struggled to navigate through a Youtube site. They fell for the fact these two business partners don’t talk to one another. They fell for the fact both of their emails were spammy looking emails.
They fell for a lot of things that I avoided simply because these were lessons I learned a long time ago and they culminated into this moment. A moment where I could look over this trainwreck of a meeting and laugh at it.
While also providing some pointers.
First Do Some Homework
It’s a given for entrepreneurs who wear multiple hats to know generally the ins and outs of business. Because they have multiple roles, it’s an entrepreneur’s duty to know a little about the stuff being discussed.
The idea isn’t to do a deep dive on the subject and to be an “expert” on the subject. But you should know generally how to do some basic things.
Basic knowledge to the point that you can tell the difference between someone who knows their stuff and someone who is talking bullshit.
In my case, having attempted Youtube multiple times, I already knew how to navigate the website and how to be uploading videos. I also knew some general things about marketing on Youtube too. I was familiar with tags and the importance of strong titles and descriptions.
And it’s that foundation why I put more trust in my current marketer than those scammers. Because after I told that story, my marketer pointed out several things. Some things we discussed via text, but plenty of other things too.
Like the fact these growth tools aren’t totally needed. That “optimizing” Youtube videos actually looks a lot different than say ranking articles. There might’ve been a time where Youtube and Google’s search functions behaved similarly, but those days are long gone.
What matters more is just the consistency and putting together entertaining videos. Yes some marketing matters, but the main thing is making these videos interesting to watch and being consistent.
Whether it’s for business or scammers are contacting you about something else, the important thing to know is to have a general understanding of the topic they might be talking about. As a general rule, if they start demanding you pay through crypto or gift cards, then something isn’t right.
Second Temper Your Emotions
I mentioned this story briefly before and went on a tangent afterwards talking about knowing your goals and direction in life. Goals in this scenario can serve as a sort of check to emotional responses.
Because the ultimate tool that a scammer can leverage is their victim’s emotions.
Even though you’re going to be displaying them in the heat of the moment, the idea is displaying the right kind that waste a scammers time. One way I found that was helpful in my situation was to remember my goals.
In the end, it would’ve been nice to have them help me out on my own terms with my videos. Part of my patience with them was to hold onto that fact that maybe they might see reason and help me.
If they were legitimate.
Because one key piece of advice I remember my current marketer told me is this:
A good marketer will be flexible with their clients.
Whether it’s budget, or processes, a sign of a good marketer will be one who is flexible with your demands. What I was asking for was reasonable under any other circumstance. If they considered it unreasonable, they were either scammers, or just terrible marketers.
In those final moments, reminding myself of my goals made it clear what my objective was in the meeting. And it was that reason where I was able to see everything just fall apart before my eyes.
Thirdly Give Them Little Rope To Work With
Scammers have a strategy to picking their marks. It’s all a matter of figuring out what sort of qualities they see in you. You can piece that together by what they are offering you or trying to get you to do.
With not every scam being a spam call or a “Window’s employee” calling about your computer, some scammers are being smarter by looking like legitimate businesses. After all, many people are starting up side hustles and these services sound helpful on the surface.
But you can figure out just how hard and how far scammers will go when you give them very little to work with.
Sometimes it’s short responses, but in other cases it’s leaning into those two other steps I mentioned.
If they are a business, then you want to get on a call with them before you agree to anything. Beyond that, you want to make your demands and expectations clear for them and yourself. Those expectations are based on your goals surrounding whatever it is you are doing.
And as long as you have a general grasp of what they are offering — whether through researching yourself or asking someone you trust already and has experience with this — you can look at how they react to your responses.
And then judge for yourself.
Scammers are becoming more sophisticated as time goes on. And with AI, it’s a lot easier to take that route and scam people than it is to offer legitimate help to people. As a result, it’s important for us to be a little smarter about how we deal with scammers.
We don’t need to actively mess with them in the same way I did. But it’s about being leery about the people that randomly enter your life to some degree. To dip your toe in the water and learn about them and begin to size them up.
This isn’t to say to never trust any person ever. We need to trust people, especially in business. But it’s to be able to weigh things accordingly.
A lot of that comes from experience of course. But even for those starting, keeping in mind these simple things can help you navigate through scammers and find genuine people willing to work with you and connect with.
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