Picture this. You open your email and see a request for a YouTube sponsorship collab. The person on the other end tells you they love your channel, enjoy what you’re doing, and want to not only give you money, but lots of it.
They give you some details and ask you to click a link to learn more. You’re excited, so naturally, you want to say yes.
But before you click anything—or respond—stop.
It could be another YouTube sponsorship scam. And they’re more common than you’d think.
Search Reddit on any given day and you’re likely to come across pages of creators asking if a sponsorship offer is legit. Quite often, it isn’t.
Reddit users have been exceptional at sharing bogus emails and email addresses and warning their fellow creatives to be careful.
I’ve been burned, too—luckily not too badly—so I’m going to share some tips for you to know if the brand collab request is legit or not.
How To Tell If a YouTube Sponsorship Is Legit
Most YouTubers dream of this day—the moment when their hobby turns into an actual money-making machine and a company offers a brand deal.
It’s also extremely flattering that a company would seek you out in a sea of over 100 million channels.
So, discovering that the email sitting in your inbox might be a scam is disheartening.
Here are some key clues that the email might be a YouTube sponsorship scam.
One of the first things I do when I receive a sponsorship request is check the sender’s email.
If it comes from something like miaproctor@target.com or sophiebaxter@nike.com, I feel a degree of reassurance. If it comes from miaproctor2435nike@gmail.com, I immediately get suspicious.
But—and this is important—a professional-looking email address isn’t proof that the offer is legitimate. Scammers are sophisticated, so I still do my homework.
My next step is usually to search for that person independently. So, if the email says it’s from Mia Proctor at Nike, I will search Nike or LinkedIn to see if I can find her.
Then, I’ll reach out independently to see if she actually sent me that email.
It’s a lot of legwork, but trust me, you want to do your due diligence.
The Email Itself Can Give The Scam Away
Here’s a professional tip: look closely at how the person structures their email.
This one is obvious, but it warrants repeating – emails that have grammatical errors, typos, misspellings, strange formatting or inconsistencies could be a scam.
Also, some bogus companies will address you as “dear content creator,” or they’ll address you by your channel’s name.
I cannot stress how much I hate this, because I go to great lengths to state my name on my channel. So, if the company doesn’t bother to learn my name, that gives me pause.
Now, I will quickly add that some legitimate companies do this, too. I get emails addressed to “This Bahamian Gyal” quite often. It’s annoying, but sometimes they’re just lazy and didn’t bother to learn my name.
Look Out For Contact Methods
Legitimate companies and their representatives will often include additional contact information—a full name, company email, phone number or, in some cases, a physical address.
I love when they do that, because it allows you to reverse look up their phone number, search for their physical address or, better yet, call.
If the email ends with just the sender’s first name and no other way to contact them, be very careful.
And whenever possible, verify that information independently rather than relying solely on the phone number, website or contact details included in the email.
Another Clue: There Is A Huge Disconnect
One of the things I have learned about the companies I have partnered with in the past is that they watch my content and see where there could be a natural inclusion on my channel.
Scammy companies (yes, I said scammy) will offer brand deals for things that just don’t make sense on my channel.
I don’t smoke and never will, so I would never allow a cigarette or vaping company to advertise on my channel. Same thing with adult toys. I’ve gotten those offers before. It’s weird. I just block and move on.
How I Almost Got Scammed
Many years ago—before I was the sophisticated scam detector that I am now—I received an email from someone purporting to be from Polaroid.
Now, I happen to love all things Polaroid and have a huge love for nostalgic things, so I was beyond excited.
The person who reached out had done their homework. They cited several of my videos and not just the titles
In addition to that, they were able to recall certain details that proved they had sat and watched the entire thing.
They addressed me by my name (a good sign) and offered a sweet deal. The individual also said that if I wanted to counter, I could. However, they needed me to click on a link to a sponsorship deck to get full details on my deliverables.
I clicked on the link, which took me to some other portal that looked very legit. It was a beautiful website. I had to enter some credentials they gave me, and it would take me to the deliverables.
For some reason (and honestly, it only could be God), my computer was not cooperating. I kept having technical issues.
But when I reached out to the “representative” to explain the problem, something changed.
The pleasant, accommodating person I had been emailing suddenly became harsh. He seemed angry that I wasn’t able to get into the portal. He said, “keep trying; everything is in there.”
That’s when I stopped.
I felt like God was protecting me, so I exited, blocked him and moved on.
I knew in my heart that it was a scam.
He needed me to move fast. That’s why he was getting irritated.
And that brings me to another important point: never download a file, install software, enter a password or log into an unfamiliar portal from a sponsorship email until you’ve independently verified the sender.
A Final Note: Do Not Ignore Your Instincts
Listen, I could give you every tip in the world, but at the end of the day, one of your greatest defenses is your instinct.
Do a gut check.
If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Also, if it feels weird or you feel rushed to do something, stop.
Any company that wants to work with you that badly will give you assurances because they know that there are scammers out there.
Remember, most of us have our email addresses on our social media platforms, making it very easy for bad actors to get access to our details. Be very careful.
So, let me hear it. Are you a content creator who was scammed—or nearly scammed? What happened? What tipped you off? And what did you learn?
Let’s talk down below.
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