There’s a sense of community when watching a favorite “Influencer”. But have you ever been asked to send the person cash in the mail, or received hints of things they need. If so, you may have encountered a scam.
How can that be possible when the person goes to church and/or preaches the teachings of their faith. How in the world could simply requesting cash be a scam? Think of the extremely well-dressed preachers in church passing the collection plate, but gifting their wife $5,000 luxury purses. Reaching into your purse transfers to the preacher who then transfers the money to a gift for his wife.
Favorite channels may be doing the same thing, just in a less visible way. It’s hard for me to enjoy watching channels because there are so many smile-in-your-face hustlers preaching the word so to speak, but then filling their pockets with PO Box gifts and yes, even cash. I don’t understand how someone can speak on God then act like God is blessing them with “faithful viewers” who shower them with gifts. It’s not organic, it’s premeditated. It’s a hustle, a scam. They do it with a smile. Women seem to dominate this style of hustle. Where are the men of God in their lives that can stand up to these women.
Some of these folks are banking your money, your gifts and putting God on top of it like frosting on a cake. Narcissism is an over-used word in today’s world but there are highly narcissistic people who present as good while they are hustling you. I see this with older audiences. It happens to older people and it’s unconscionable to rip off elders. But they do it. And they do it with a big smile of gratitude. As if that makes it ok. And then talk about how God is blessing them.
Yes, it is sad and even tragic how scammers/con men are able to make people trust and love them beyond what’s reasonable. they are the true parasites preying on the vulnerable. A few years ago I read a book by Maria Konnikova about the psychology of con-men. It was very interesting and eye opening.
Society has changed so much with technology. What used to be a personality style one might encounter a few times in a lifetime is now being encountered on a more regular basis. Thank you very much for reading my article!
I could not agree more and there are so many channels doing it especially in the homemaking segment. There’s one that comes to mind. I’m not going to name any names but she’s super big on it and she’s cashing in on so many people’s money.
I have a channel myself and people ask me to put a PO box and I don’t simply because I want my channel channel to earn money the way it’s intended to not by gifts coming through the mail.
It’s nice to see. I’m not the only one that sees what’s going on clearly.
It can be very frustrating. Things are not always as they appear on YouTube. I had to create a Channel in order to see what was underneath, so to speak.
That’s honestly so true. I never realized how sneaky some of them are, and like you, my audience is mostly an older community on fixed incomes. I could not imagine taking from them. That hurts my heart to even think about.
I’ve seen a lot of misrepresentation taking place to encourage folks into sending gifts and such. There are very kind and genuine people that watch my videos as is the case with many channels. It’s a responsibility to not take advantage of others.