The creator's vulnerability and emotional honesty in sharing a personal scam experience resonated with viewers, making the warning about the scam highly shareable and engaging. The detailed explanation of the scam's mechanics, including the use of a fake platform and Bitcoin, provided valuable information to the audience.
Summary
The creator shares their experience of being scammed by a fake brand deal with "Poppi." They detail how the scammer used a sophisticated approach, including a fake LinkedIn profile and a seemingly legitimate email, to trick them into depositing money via Bitcoin on a platform called "Crystal Point." The creator ultimately lost $300 and warns others to be cautious of offers that seem too good to be true and to verify email domains.
Structure
1Introduction to the scam and emotional distress
2Details of the fake brand deal and initial research
3The role of the third-party platform 'Crystal Point' and Bitcoin
Original caption
Got scammed by who I thought was @drinkpoppi 😔 legitimately so upset this happened but wanted to warn the community about it .. #scam #creatorscam #contentcreator #poppi #drinkpoppi
More from @sociallyaziz
More breakout videos from this creator.
4The creator's realization of the scam and the loss incurred
5Warning to the community and advice on identifying scams
Product placement
The creator shows an email from 'Poppi' and a screenshot of transactions on a platform called 'Crystal Point', which they identify as the scam platform.
On-screen text
BEWARE: HIGH LEVEL CREATOR SCAM
I got scammed in a brand deal that I thought was with Poppi
OKAY, I JUST
LITERALLY FINISHED CRYING
BECAUSE WHAT I
THOUGHT WAS A
HUGE BRAND DEAL
WAS ACTUALLY A HUGE SCAM.
SO WHOEVER KNOWS
ME KNOWS I'M
OBSESSED WITH POPPI
AND I RECEIVED
AN EMAIL THE OTHER DAY
FROM WHAT I
THOUGHT WAS SO LEGITIMATE.
I LOOKED UP
THE PERSON ON
LINKEDIN AND I
SAW THAT YES,
SHE'S LIKE THE
HEAD OF INFLUENCER MARKETING.
THE EMAIL, EVERYTHING
LOOKED SO LEGIT.
THE ONLY THING
WAS THE OFFER
DID SOUND TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE,
LIKE AN AMBASSADOR
INFLUENCER PARTNERSHIP,
WHICH I'M NOT REALLY USED TO.
I'M USED TO UGC
AND I'M A COACH
AND I'VE BEEN IN
THE CREATOR SPACE
FOR 3 YEARS.
SO LIKE, I KNOW SCAMS WHEN
I SEE THEM, BUT
THIS ONE WAS SO SOPHISTICATED.
SO I'M GOING TO WALK YOU
THROUGH IT JUST IN
CASE THIS HAPPENS TO YOU.
SO AGAIN, THE
BRAND WAS POPPI.
THEY REACHED OUT TO ME
WITH LIKE INFLUENCER COLLABORATION
BECAUSE I NATURALLY
POST ABOUT THEM.
AND IT CAME
FROM THIS EMAIL
AND I'M GONNA
SHOW YOU.
SO THIS IS
THE EMAIL THAT
IT CAME FROM.
I WAS A LITTLE HESITANT AT FIRST.
UM, AND YOU
CAN TELL LIKE
JUST WITH MY RESPONSES,
BUT THEN AFTER
I GOT LIKE
THE CONTRACT AND
I SIGNED IT,
I WAS LIKE, OH MY GOD,
LIKE THIS IS ACTUALLY AMAZING.
I CAN'T BELIEVE
THIS IS ACTUALLY OFFICIAL.
AND MIND YOU,
THE REASON WHY
I THOUGHT IT WAS LEGIT
IS BECAUSE I LOOKED UP
THE PERSON ON LINKEDIN,
REAL PERSON AND
THEN SHE
SAID THINGS LIKE THIS
AND I WAS LIKE, OH MY GOD,
LIKE THIS IS THE SWEETEST THING.
IT. EVERYTHING FELT
REALLY LEGIT.
OKAY. AND NOW
SOME BRANDS THEY
DO USE THIRD
PARTY PLATFORMS TO
PROCESS PAYMENTS.
SO THEY HAD
TO SEND ME THE FUNDS
BEFORE
I CAN PURCHASE THE
PRODUCT AND THEN
START CREATING.
AND THEIR THIRD
PARTY PLATFORM.
THIS IS WHERE
IT GOT REALLY
WEIRD AND I
WAS LIKE, SO THE THIRD
PARTY PLATFORM WAS
CALLED CRYSTAL POINT
AND BASICALLY TO
ACTIVATE IT
TO USE LIKE
THIS CREDIT CARD
WITHIN THE
LIKE THE FIRST,
SHE GAVE ME LIKE THE FIRST,
YOU KNOW,
$2,000 AND IT
LOOKED LIKE IT
DEPOSIT INTO
MY ACCOUNT AND
SHE GAVE ME LIKE THE EXTRA
$50 FOR PRODUCT.
SO THE $2,050
WAS DEPOSIT INTO
THE CRYSTAL POINT ACCOUNT,
THIS THIRD PARTY PLATFORM,
WHICH I'VE USED THIRD PARTY PLATFORMS.
I DIDN'T THINK
IT WAS ODD.
BUT THE ODD PART
IS I HAD TO ACTIVATE IT,
I HAD TO DO IT WITH
BITCOIN AND I'VE
NEVER EVER BOUGHT
BITCOIN BEFORE.
SO I HAD TO GO AND
FIND A FUCKING
UH, A BITCOIN
WHATEVER CRYPTO WEBSITE
THAT THAT CANADIANS
CAN USE. IT WAS LIKE
THIS WHOLE FREAKING THING
AND LIKE I
WAS JUST LIKE
TUNNEL VISION BECAUSE
I WAS SO EXCITED
AND BECAUSE THE
CONTRACT WAS SO BIG,
LIKE $8,000 A MONTH
AND I'M NOT USED TO
INFLUENCER PARTNERSHIPS.
SO LIKE TO ME
I WAS LIKE, WOW,
THAT'S WHAT INFLUENCERS
MAKE. I WOULD YOU
LOVE TO DO MORE OF THESE,
BUT OBVIOUSLY IT'S
TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE.
SO ANYWAYS,
WE, UM, YOU
SHE'S BASICALLY TELLING ME
TO GO THROUGH
THIS CRYSTAL POINT THING
AND I WAS LIKE,
LIKE YOU KNOW,
I'VE HAD HICCUPS,
BLAH BLAH BLAH.
THEN SHE'S LIKE
THE WEEKEND,
YOU KNOW, I'M
MAKING SURE THAT
MY DEPOSIT WENT
THROUGH AND LIKE
IT JUST STARTED
GETTING WEIRD.
SO THEN IT
ENDED UP GETTING
WHERE I GO
INTO CHAT TO
ASK FOR HELP.
WHAT I SHOULD HAVE DONE
AND WHAT YOU ALL
SHOULD DO
IS LITERALLY EVERY
EMAIL YOU GET
IF YOU FEEL WEIRD ABOUT IT,
PUT IT INTO CHAT GPT.
I USUALLY DO
THAT. SOME REASON WITH
THIS ONE I DIDN'T.
AND ONCE I
WAS GETTING LIKE
A LITTLE LIKE
FEELING OFF ABOUT IT
BECAUSE THEY BASICALLY
I HAD TO PUT
TWO DEPOSITS
AND THERE'S LIKE
MY ACCOUNT,
I HAD TO LIFT IT,
I HAD TO PUT
A COMPLIANCE LETTER
AND I WAS
GETTING WEIRD NOW.
LIKE THIS IS JUST WEIRD.
I'M NOT UNDERSTANDING.
AND THEN I
PUT IT INTO CHAT
AND CHAT WAS LIKE, YEAH,
THIS IS 1,000% A SCAM.
AND WHAT THESE PEOPLE DO,
THESE HIGH LEVEL
CREATOR SCAMS,
THEY ARE MAKING
IT SO LEGIT.
YOU THE PLATFORM.
SO THIS IS
LIKE, SEE RECEIVED
MONEY FROM DRINK POPPI.
EVERYTHING JUST FELT
SO REAL.
THEN I WAS TRYING TO LIKE
WITHDRAW IT WASN'T WORKING.
DO THIS FREAKING
BITCOIN DEPOSIT.
OH MY GOD.
AND THE WHOLE
TIME I HAD
HELP FROM THEIR SUPPORT,
LIKE LITERALLY OUR
CONVERSATION WENT FOR
3 DAYS NON-STOP
AND THEY WERE
HELPING ME THROUGH
EVERYTHING. ANYWAYS,
I'M STILL REALLY
PISSED TO LET THIS
ALL SINK IN.
I SHOULD HAVE WENT
WITH MY GUT.
IT WAS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE.
SO SAD.
I'M JUST SO SAD.
I'M JUST SO UPSET.
I ACTUALLY LOST ABOUT
$300 IN TOTAL.
I CAN'T BELIEVE.
SO YEAH, IF
THAT WILL HELP
ANY OF YOU,
CRYSTAL POINT IS
A SCAM. IF
ANYTHING IS LIKE
DOT BOND OR
DOT OTHER THINGS.
I'LL SHOW YOU
WHAT CHAT SAID.
THIS IS WHAT
I WAS LIKE, WAIT,
REAL PERSON AND
IT'S LIKE THE
LINKEDIN PERSON'S REAL.
THE EMAIL DOMAIN
THEY'RE USING IS
NOT SOMEBODY'S IMPERSONATING.
THIS IS HOW
SCAMS WORK.
SO THE EMAIL. SO
IT SHOULD HAVE CAME FROM ONE
OF THOSE.
THAT'S SAD.
I'M JUST SO SAD.
I'M JUST SO UPSET.
I ACTUALLY LOST ABOUT
$300 IN TOTAL.
I CAN'T BELIEVE.
Transcript
Okay, I just literally finished crying because what I thought was a huge brand deal was actually a huge scam. So whoever knows me knows I'm obsessed with Poppi and I received an email the other day from what I thought was so legitimate. I looked up the person on LinkedIn and I saw that yes, she's like the head of influencer marketing. The email, everything looked so legit. The only thing was the offer did sound too good to be true, like an ambassador influencer partnership, which I'm not really used to. I'm used to UGC and I'm a coach and I've been in the creator space for 3 years. So like, I know scams when I see them, but this one was so sophisticated. So I'm going to walk you through it just in case this happens to you. So again, the brand was Poppi. They reached out to me with like influencer collaboration because I naturally post about them. And it came from this email and I'm gonna show you. So this is the email that it came from. I was a little hesitant at first, um, and you can tell like just with my responses, but then after I got like the contract and I signed it, I was like, oh my god, like this is actually amazing. I can't believe this is actually official. And mind you, the reason why I thought it was legit is because I looked up the person on LinkedIn, real person and then she said things like this and I was like, oh my god, like this is the sweetest thing. I can't believe it. Everything felt really legit. Okay. And now some brands they do use third party platforms to process payments. So they had to send me the funds before I can purchase the product and then start creating. And their third party platform, this is where it got really weird. And I was like, so the third party platform was called Crystal Point and basically to activate it to use like this credit card within the like the first, she gave me like the first, you know, $2,000 and it looked like it deposit into my account and she gave me like the extra $50 for product. So the $2,050 was deposited into the Crystal Point account, this third party platform, which I've used third party platforms. I didn't think it was odd. But the odd part is I had to activate it, I had to do it with Bitcoin and I've never ever bought Bitcoin before. So I had to go and find a fucking, uh, a Bitcoin, whatever crypto website that that Canadians can use. It was like this whole freaking thing and like I was just like tunnel vision because I was so excited and because the contract was so big, like $8,000 a month and I'm not used to influencer partnerships. So like to me I was like, wow, that's what influencers make. I would you love to do more of these, but obviously it's too good to be true. So anyways, we, um, you she's basically telling me to go through this Crystal Point thing and I was like, like you know, I've had hiccups, blah blah blah. Then she's like the weekend, you know, I'm making sure that my deposit went through and like it just started getting weird. So then it ended up getting where I go into chat to ask for help. What I should have done and what you all should do is literally every email you get, if you feel weird about it, put it into chat GPT. I usually do that. Some reason with this one I didn't. And once I was getting like a little like feeling off about it because they basically I had to put two deposits and there's like my account, I had to lift it, I had to put a compliance letter and I was getting weird now. Like this is just weird. I'm not understanding. And then I put it into chat and chat was like, yeah, this is 1,000% a scam. And what these people do, these high level creator scams, they are making it so legit. I'll show you the platform. So this is like, see received money from Drink Poppi. Everything just felt so real. Then I was trying to like withdraw it wasn't working. Do this freaking Bitcoin deposit. Oh my god. And the whole time I had help from their support, like literally our conversation went for 3 days non-stop and they were helping me through everything. Anyways, I'm still really pissed to let this all sink in. I should have went with my gut. It was too good to be true. So sad. I'm just so sad. I'm just so upset. I actually fell for it. I lost about $300 in total. I can't believe. So yeah, if that will help any of you, Crystal Point is a scam. If anything is like dot bond or dot other things, I'll show you what chat said. This is what I was like, wait, real person and it's like the LinkedIn person's real. The email domain they're using is not somebody's impersonating. This is how scams work. So the email, so it should have came from one of those. That's sad. I'm just so sad. I'm just so upset. I actually lost about $300 in total. I can't believe.
