Fake Journalist Epidemic You Need To Know

Branded content today plays an important part in brand marketing strategies for many startups and other big enterprises. Startups, in particular, are looking to increase their visibility and reach a wider audience by partnering with media organizations. These include a small product placement in a film or short film, influencer marketing, or promoted posts on reputable news websites. In various industries, one could notice that branded content has better ROAS than traditional advertising.

However, there seems to be a new set of scammers that are targeting startups and other small businesses, preying on these businesses’ desire for brand recognition by impersonating reputed journalists and other team members of media organizations. Posing as journalists, they dupe startups with the promise of fake, paid-branded content opportunities on behalf of established news organizations, damaging both startups and the news organizations’ reputations in the process.

Read the first-hand experience of Techcrunch reporter on how he uncovered the paid Techcrunch scam.

Scammers create fake social media sites, websites, and fake email addresses that mimic those of real journalists, then reach out to startups and small businesses with an offer for paid promotion. With the advent of deep fakes, this issue will increase in the future, making it very difficult for the end user to identify what is real and what is fake.

Consequences for Media Organizations

While the main target for such scams is small businesses and upcoming startups, it also creates a major issue for the media organization. When fake journalists impersonate their staff, it tarnishes the reputation of the publication and their credibility. It could also damage the relationship between advertisers and partners.

Consequences for Startups

Startups that fall victim to such scams not only miss a huge chunk of money but also a real opportunity to showcase their brand. It might also cause damage between them and their users or investors.

What is authifyFame, and how does partnering with authifyFame help media organizations in the long run?

authifyFame is a one-stop solution for internet users to easily detect whether a social media site, a website, or even a freelancing profile belongs to a real authentic user and not a scammy fraudster.

Organizations that work with authifyFame will have their organization’s name below the individual user’s name, giving the audience the trust that the person works for the organization.

This free service helps users identify scam links in less than 30 seconds, thus preventing them from falling into the scam in the first place.

To conclude, the rise of fake journalists running branded content scams poses a significant threat to media organizations, startups, and small businesses. To stay safe, it’s very essential to be aware of these scams and take proactive measures to verify the identity and legitimacy of any website or social profile of the journalist before even interacting with them.

If you are a journalist that works for a media organization, get your profile listed here.