Imagine this…
You open an email from one of the biggest personalities in your industry—someone with a huge following, someone whose endorsement could help launch your brand to new heights.
Excited, you open the email… and what you read takes your breath away:
They want to host you on their podcast.
Even better… they’re going to pay you (well) for your time.
Here’s an email I received from one of the most well-known personalities in the business world:
This may seem like the opportunity of a lifetime—but if you go along with it, the only thing you’ll star in is a scam.
How This Clever Scam Tricks Business Owners
I think the best way to explain how this scam works is to show you, step by step, how they tried to trick me.
You’re about to read some of the emails I received when I was targeted with this scam, along with corresponding messages from me to my team.
Step 1: Make contact.
Here’s the initial email I received:
| Dear Ezra Firestone, I’m inviting you as a guest on the “Wife Of The Party Podcast.” We have 4 or 5 artists from different parts of the world joining us for a live Facebook event, expecting an audience of nearly 2 million. We are offering $2,000 for each one-hour episode. The podcast will cover music, dance, entertainment, life struggles, and more. Your participation would be a great fit for our audience. Please let me know if you are interested in joining us. |
As far as scam-bait goes, this is pretty alluring! I’m no stranger to doing podcast appearances, so getting an email like this didn’t set off any alarm bells.
I coordinated this message to my team. As you can see, I thought this offer seemed legit enough to move forward:
| Ezra: Please ask her if they film live and if so, where? I’d be open to filming in-studio if it was going to be a better fit for the show. |
Step 2: Make the event seem real.
Now that they’d established contact and captured my interest, the scammer responded with a slew of well-organized details that made the event seem legit:
| Scammer: The event will be held from 20th November to 30th November, every day from 8 pm till 10 pm EST. You can let us know when you are available on these days; we can set you up for any day you want. You would be doing 1 podcast out of the 10 total. We don’t have any contract and it’s also not needed because we are paying you fully upfront payment for the event. As far as payment is concerned, you get paid 48 hours before the event date. So by the time you are doing the event, you are already fully paid with no issues. |
Notice that last paragraph. They want to make it absolutely clear that they’ll pay you before the event, probably to disarm any suspicions. After all, if you get paid before the event… what could go wrong?
Fortunately for me, I’m familiar with how podcast appearances work, and I could tell something didn’t add up.
| Ezra: This could be a scam — something just doesn’t feel quite right about it but let’s move forward and see how they proceed. Also, who pays $2k for a 1 hour podcast? Basically unheard of. Mostly you do podcasts for free to get the exposure. |
Step 3: Conduct an innocent pre-call walkthrough.
Here’s where this scam makes the transition from setup to strike—and it does it in an offhand, innocent-sounding way.
| Scammer: Carlos is asking if you are familiar with Facebook live events or if you would like a quick Zoom walkthrough to ensure everything is set. This way, both sides are aligned on the technical setup. Have you done that before through your Facebook page? I mean you know how to join an online event through FB? If not, I can connect with you on Zoom, share my screen, and show you how to join and what you need at your side. |
At this point, I was officially suspicious. But I met with them anyway—if nothing else, to see what was going to happen. Here’s what I reported back to my team:
| Ezra: Very sophisticated scam. They get on Zoom with you and walk you through basically giving them access to your Business Manager. As far as scams go, very clever. This scam could easily take advantage of someone who isn’t tech-savvy. |
How to Protect Yourself from Would-be Scammers
In this case, I was fortunate.
I’m familiar with how podcast appearances work. I’m fairly tech-savvy. And as a big Facebook marketer, I’m very familiar with Business Manager—which means I know not to give access to the wrong person. For all those reasons, I didn’t fall for this scam.
Not everyone is so lucky. And unfortunately, scams are only getting more and more sophisticated (and more common).
That’s why it’s more important than ever to protect yourself online. So here are 4 safety tips to help you avoid scams like this one:
- Be wary of any offer that seems too good to be true (it probably is)
- Be wary of offers that play on your ego, ambition, or other emotions commonly targeted by social engineering
- Be wary of any stranger “helping” you with your own accounts, and NEVER grant access or give passwords to someone you don’t know and trust
- And lastly, take the time to shore up your online security: use strong passwords and set up two-factor authentication
Err on the side of caution. If an opportunity (such as a podcast appearance) ever gives you pause, trust your gut. Google it to see if others have written about it. Ask a few savvy, trusted friends for help.
It’s hard to put a price on protecting your data, identity, bank details and other secure information.
A little caution now can save you from a world of trouble later!
