The Scam List
The payment scams that target creators, catalogued
Every scam here runs constantly in creator DMs and forums, and every one has a tell you can spot before losing money or time. Sister page to the Ban List: same idea, different predators.
The three rules that beat most of them
1. Money you can't see in your own platform balance doesn't exist. Not in a screenshot, not in a promise, not "pending". 2. Anyone who offers big money before asking your prices is buying your attention, not your content. 3. You never pay to get paid. No card purchases, no "activation fees", no gift cards. Real platforms take their cut from the money, not from you.
A buyer sent a payment screenshot. Is it real?
The pattern: a buyer "pays", sends a screenshot of the confirmation, and pressures you to deliver before the money is visible. Sometimes it's a doctored image. Sometimes it's a real payment that gets reversed the moment your content arrives.
The tell: any urgency about delivering before you've checked your own balance. There is no legitimate reason a real payment needs you to trust a screenshot.
The rule: open your platform's payment page yourself. If it's not there, it didn't happen. Say exactly that, once, and stop engaging.
A stranger offered me $200 out of nowhere
The pattern: big numbers before any discussion of what they're buying or your prices. Then endless specific requests, questions you've already answered, "samples" first, dick rates they'll "definitely tip for". The money never arrives, and hours of your attention already did. Some versions never intended to pay anything; the payoff for them was the conversation itself, or free content.
The tell: the offer arrives before the question "how much do you charge?" Real buyers ask prices. Fantasy spenders announce budgets.
The rule: tip first, then time. Anyone who balks at paying anything up front was never going to pay anything at the end.
The sugar daddy who needs a gift card
The pattern: a generous stranger wants to spoil you weekly. To "verify" you or "link accounts", you first need to buy a gift card, or there's a screenshot showing money already sent to your PayPal that just needs a small fee to release. The screenshot is fake, and the gift card is the whole point.
The tell: money flowing in the wrong direction, in any amount, for any reason. Also: real arrangements build over time on-platform; instant generosity from strangers is bait.
An agency DM'd me promising to triple my earnings
The pattern: flattering outreach, a call with impressive-sounding numbers, then a request for your account login "to manage your page". In the worst documented cases the agency changes the password and ransoms the account back for a majority cut of everything you earn. In the merely bad cases you've signed away 40 to 60 per cent for chat work you could hire directly for a fraction of that.
The tell: any request for your password. Legitimate management can be done without owning your login, and anyone who insists otherwise is telling you the business model.
The rule: never hand over credentials. If you do work with anyone, contracts first, and check what happens to the account, the content and the fan list when you leave.
A new platform says I've earned money, but withdrawing costs a fee
The pattern: a slick new "creator platform" where sales roll in suspiciously easily. When you try to withdraw, you need to buy their card, upgrade your account, or pay a processing fee first. The sales were fake, generated by the platform itself. Your withdrawal fee is their revenue.
The tell: you pay to receive your own money. No real platform works this way. Real platforms deduct fees from the payout.
The rule: before uploading anything to a new platform, search "[platform name] withdrawal" and "[platform name] scam". Two minutes of reading beats a month of fake earnings.
The off-platform buyer who charges back
The pattern: a buyer insists on paying by PayPal, Cash App or bank transfer instead of the platform. Payment arrives, content goes out, then the payment is disputed as unauthorised. Off-platform, you have no seller protection, the payment app bans your category anyway (the Ban List), and the dispute usually goes to the buyer.
The tell: any reason why the platform "doesn't work" for them. The platform's cut is partly the price of payments that stick.
The rule: on-platform payment only. This also protects your platform account, since soliciting off-platform payment is a bannable offence on most platforms.
The brand deal that pays "after the videos go live"
The pattern: a company offers real-sounding money for promotional content, with payment due after you've filmed, edited and published. Sometimes it's a real company being cheap with the risk. Sometimes the payment simply never comes, and your published videos keep promoting them anyway.
The tell: all the risk sits with you. Established brands pay deposits.
The rule: 50 per cent up front for new partners, full payment before publishing. A company that won't structure it that way is telling you how they treat suppliers.
Changelog
- — First published with seven patterns documented from creator-forum reports.