How to Spot FAKE Influencer Collaboration Emails

Table of Contents

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Updated: 11/19/2023 | How to Spot FAKE Influencer Collaboration Emails

Have you ever come across a collaboration that was too good to be true? That’s most likely the case!

I’ve received tons of emails from scammers who try to offer me thousands of dollars worth of products to post and share their products.

Unfortunately, these deals are always too good to be true. Below we’ll share our guide on how you can spot fake influencer collaboration emails.

How to Tell a Collaboration Email is FAKE

They address you by your username or a pet name. This is always a dead giveaway if a company doesn’t refer to me as Alex or Alexandra. Instead, they call me Schimiggy (my username) or a pet name such as Dear, Madam, etc.
They use a Gmail e-mail. A real collaboration will NEVER use Gmail. There might be a chance legit companies may use a Gmail email if the company is smaller and from overseas. Most real collaborations will use a company email (not @yahoo or @gmail).
The e-mail is typically formatted terribly with lots of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.
The product they are selling does not match your niche. I write about fashion, food, travel, photography, and marketing. I would never promote cars or children’s toys to my audience.
They don’t offer a sponsorship contract. This is a huge red flag for me, especially if the collab is coming from a big company such as Nordstrom, lululemon, Nike, REVOLVE, or other similar companies.
They require that I deposit a check. It’s definitely a scam if you are sent a check to deposit in order to buy the merchandise needed for the collaboration. Most brand collaborations will just send you the products you request OR give you a gift card or coupon code to purchase the merchandise.

Examples of Fake Collaboration E-mails

#1 Everlane

Everlane is one of my favorite companies to work with! They offer gifting campaigns but the process is never like this.

#2 REVOLVE

I am also a REVOLVE Ambassador, so this scam email was easy to spot. REVOLVE will email you only if you are accepted into their Ambassador Program.

Below is an example of my post from an actual sponsored REVOLVE collaboration.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Alex – Travel Food Fashion Photography🌻🌎 (@schimiggy)

#3 Cupshe

Cupshe is a women’s affordable fashion brand. This email has MANY red flags which include:

Uses a Gmail email
They are sending 10 items. That is usually too many items for a collab.
$2500 per post is a ridiculous amount.
They require you to pay 30% of the shipping fee ($105)
The e-mail formatting is too simple.
There is no signature that identifies the person, their role, and important links for the company.

#4 Fashion Nova

Fashion Nova is one of the most popular brands that scammers will use. They’re a fast fashion brand anyway so it’s best to avoid the brand altogether.