Please don’t pay for Instagram verification

Last updated on July 5th, 2024 at 11:51 am

I’ve shared about this a few times in the past but I never get tired of repeating this. All social media verification is free. At least from what I’ve read.

You don’t need to pay hundreds or in some cases thousands of dollars to have your social media verified.

Now that I’ve got that out of the way let’s get to the scam.

New Name same scam

I shared about VIP Engaged (dot) com in a previous post. well it seems this site is now Referring others (dot) com and run by a new CEO.

The name may have changed but the scam is the same.

VIP Engaged (dot) com is now also sending out emails as Referring Others (dot) com. The website is like similar ones I’ve shared in the past.

They want to market your social media platforms for outrageous prices.

One key take away is that they can get you verified via Instagram.

Here’s an example of a recent email I was sent from them.

oddly enough

Oddly enough Referring Others tends to have a lot of Gmail accounts. With in the last few days I’ve had about 6 emails trying pitching their services from 6 different Gmail accounts.

Is this raising any red flags 🚩for anyone else.

Here is a list of a few Gmail addresses that contacted me trying to pitch Referring Others services.

[su_list icon=”icon: paw” indent=”1″]

• influencecrush=
• vipengaged
• instagramenhance
• instagramenhanceceo
• instagrambluecheckmark

[/su_list]

Like most sites

Like most sites this one didn’t offer much contact info on the first few emails. It wasn’t until the 3rd or 4th email before there was a direct link listed.

When I looked up info on the site I wasn’t able to find it directly using Google. But when I finally found the website it seems to be like other scam sites. Here’s some info on the sites WHO IS.

This sie is similar to the now closed Super B Media. They claim to promote popular influencers and brands.

When I’ve reached out to brands in the past many have assured me they don’t work with these types of promotional sites. I think they may have also helped shut a few down.

outrageous prices

Okay I think some red flags should go up if you are requried to pay $999 to nearly $3,000 USD for Instagram promotion and followers.

Again Verification is free people. No one can ever tell me what the term “real followers” means.

Another red flag 🚩 is that the site doesn’t give you a breakdown of the price in monthly terms.

I did the math if you are paying the lowest pricepoint of the $999 USD it would cost your $83.25 a month.

I don’t know many folks who have an extra thousand dollars laying around to throw at social media marketing do you?

More Red Flags 🚩🚩🚩

During my research of Referring Others I noticed that the address they used is currently an office space that is in Arizona. According to a realestate office I found on Google the entire building is leasing out space.

Another thing the phone number listed is a New York based number. I don’t know how an Arizona based business has an NY phone number.

Getting back to the email addresses for a second. if this company is using various Gmail accounts to send out marketing that’s usually a scam. If the company doesn’t have a valid emaila address I always find it a bit shady. A valid email address being for xzy or admin or even ceo at referring others (dot) com.

If they are so big on attracting customers my spam random folks myself endlessly.

Here’s the Thing

Here’s the thing I’ve said it beofre and I’ll say it again. Verification is free via Instagram.

Also buying followers, likes etc are against many platforms terms of service.

Also if you psend that much money even on the lowe end $999 USD isn’t cheap. They claim they can get you verifeid, target your niche audience and all that stuff.

My question to that is will this software or whoever is in charge of promoting your content be helpful or hurtful. Or will there just be spam comments all over the platform hoping to get more followres.

Or even worse yet do they create a bunch of fake profiles to like your profile.

Don’t even get me started on how this can lead to fraud and having your Instagram account shut down.

If you want to verify your account

You can verify your account for free via Instagram. The process is simple. most times if you are denied there is a wait period of 30 days before you can apply again.

You’ll need to follow the prompts here in the US they ask for a form of ID and some source links sharing you are known.

You can visit the link below to read more about that.

https://help.instagram.com/854227311295302/?helpref=hc_fnav

Please don’t fall for these types of scams. Social media marketing is one thing but this surely a scam.