This may be too good to be true

Last updated on July 5th, 2024 at 01:00 pm

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So I had another email from a company I talked about in a video I posted a few weeks back. This morning I did a little digging and found out that it could be a possible scam.

If you’re a blogger or vlogger or have a noticeable online presence you may be contacted by influencer agencies or marketing agencies asking if you’d be interested in working with them.

You can check out what I’m talking about in my video post below. In the video, I was kind and didn’t list the name of the agency.

As I mentioned in the video I originally emailed the company back just to see if they were a legitimate brand. I tend to get a lot of spam emails via my contact info from my blog or other social sites. Well, I did have a reply back.

Before I get ahead of myself let me say this. This agency tends to focus on the fashion industry. That’s what struck me as odd. Why would I want to attend a fashion show if my blog doesn’t focus on that topic.

The email

The original email was similar to this one but what gets me is if I declined originally you’d think they would remove me from their email list or contact list.

Email text

The email was sent from an agency rep listed as Ashley

Hello,

We came across your instagram page and after showing your page off to some USA brands, they were instantly interested in working with you.

Would you have any interest in being managed by a NYC agency? 

Please let me know. We are a private, global boutique working with over 5,500 Influencers in over 160 countries. However, we work with only the best brands, privately, creating collabs for you where you can be featured, win tickets to New York Fashion Week, Sydney, Istanbul, Paris, Milano, LA, Miami Swim Week and more.

Please let me know your interest.

Ashley K, Runway & Influencer Director 

RUNWAY & INFLUENCER DEPARTMENT

www.globalinfluenceragency.com

The last portion of the email just listed their contact information such as their location and phone number. It also included an email address of a different agency rep.

Here’s what gets me

What gets me is that the email is generic. It doesn’t even list a hello name or hello website name. It’s just a sales pitch. As I mentioned above I had emailed them back when I was first sent an email earlier this year. I contact them via their website. I ended up getting a response back a few days to a week or so later. The rep that emailed me basically thought I was interested in working with the. They wanted to know if I was going to be in New York City with in the next week. It was during one of the fashion show weeks. I let them know that I lived on the west coast and wasn’t planning on traveling to NY any time soon. The follow-up email basically was the same enthusiastic thanks for letting us know an asking me to check out this link and we’ll send you a t-shirt or tote bag. I just remember it was some sort of item.

When I clicked on the link it took me to the agencies sign up page. They basically charge you to join. That was around $150 or more. They claimed that once you signed up you’d be sent a t-shirt and some other things. You’d also have other perks as well.

Again I was a bit thrown because:

A. I didn’t have that type of money to join a site. All I wanted to know was if they were legit.

and

B. I’m not a fashion-focused blogger so I thought the email was very random and out of nowhere.

So once again this morning I did a bit of research.

Here’s what I found

I found some interesting info via Trustpilot if your not familiar with this site I suggest you check it out. I find the reviews helpful when looking up info on brands or sites. So I found a few reviews that weren’t very good for the agency. Many people weren’t happy with them. You can read some of the reviews at the link below.

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.globalinfluenceragency.com

I know many agencies may charge a fee to have you work with them. I understand that but to have one reach out to me out of the blue like this one did get me to thinking. It also raised a bit of a red flag as well.

As I mentioned above the enthusiastic and automatic assumption that I wanted to join their site also put me off. The rep that contacted me figured I’d shell out the $150 or more to take part in an event on the other side of the country. I had a few follow-up emails following the original I declined repeatedly. So I hadn’t had an email from this agency/site since possibly early September. You’d think if I told them no thank you they’d remove me from their list.

What’s the point of all this?

The point I’m trying to make here is that I thought I’d inform you all just in case someone else encounters other emails of this nature. I didn’t even bother to reply because I’m not interested. I also don’t want to go through the hassle of saying no via email another five times.

So basically it’s my way of saying be on the lookout for things like this. If it seems to be too good to be true it might be. I also don’t think many people who aren’t fashion-focused bloggers or vloggers or influencers would even bother dealing with this agency. It’s always better to be safe than sorry when you have emails like these.