How To Spot Fraudulent Offers?

I run the BikeGremlin YouTube channels, websites, and have a few (relatively active) social media accounts related to BikeGremlin. Recently, I got an email from redacted-for-privacy@team.adcelerate.com offering a deal. I’ve decided to not go along with it, and use it as a (latest, freshest) example for writing this article.

TL/DR:
Scammers use urgency, flattery, and vague promises to trick people into bad deals. This article walks through how to spot and avoid fraud, using a real-world example (from my recent experience).

1. Who Am I?

I wrote an article about me, with links to my credentials (including my LinkedIn profile). I’ve been running websites and YouTube channels for about a decade now, and have a lot of experience with all kinds of partnership & sponsorship offers.

2. Why Am I Writing This?

Update: The last section of this article should help practically everyone (not just the YouTubers and “influencers”).

I hope this will help people who run YouTube, TikTok or websites to get some information on how they can avoid being taken advantage of (regardless of whether it’s a 100% clear fraud or an agreement that is too much for the benefit of the other party).

Nothing more, nothing less. Let us begin with some general tips:

3. Read The Fine Print And THINK

My default option for anything looking remotely suspicious is to just put it into a spam box. But, beyond that, if I decide to spend the time and check an offer, this is what I do (yeah, it is a bit tedious, but it beats getting screwed).

Key Takeaways:
Verify partnerships directly with the platform (e.g. Microsoft in this case).
Read the full TOS – don’t just rely on the summary they send you.
If they claim your content across all platforms, walk away.

3.1. Technical Stuff

Safe email handling – read the article on how to check if an email really is from the party it claims to be from.

Do names and brands align and can you confirm it all online – at places that seem cklearly legit?

Is everything stated clearly enough?

3.2. Psychological Tricks

Most frauds rely on human greed. Feel free to blame me for “victim blaming,” but there is a lot of truth in the saying “you can’t fool an honest man.” The first check is does an offer look too good for you – and not good enough for the other party. That is, with the info you have, would you accept being on the other end of that offer (swapping places with the person/company making you the offer)?

Other classic sales and fraud tactics include:

• False Scarcity or Urgency
  “This is a limited time offer only for the first 100 applicants” and similar.
• Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)
  Similar to the above, like: “This is an exclusive, limited-time offer for top creators like you.”
• Appealing to Vanity
  “Your content is so great, we had to reach out!”
• Overuse of Flattery
  “We carefully reviewed your content, and it’s the perfect fit for this opportunity.” (when they obviously haven’t).

I will put a list of fraud techniques at the end of this article.

3.3. Automation

This deserves some emphasis, even though it falls into the previous category (psychological tricks). Greedy and cheap companies will use automation and automated spray-and-pray offers are usually far from good. How to spot them:

• Emails addressed to your brand or just your first name, relatively vaguely – even if your site has a name of the (marketing) contact person. This is a red flag of a spam mailing list. Examples:
  “Dear team” (as generic as it comes), “Dear BikeGremlin US” (channel name copy/pasted), “Hi Relja” (first name only), “Hi” (my contact name and email are listed together).
• Likewise, emails that don’t clearly mention what your YouTube/website is about, or are too vague and general.
  “I recently came across your video and was impressed by the quality of your content” (which video?), “I was checking out your site and noticed you were linking to some SEO-related WordPress plugins…” (which article, which plugins?).
• Emails written by chat bots with language that seems a bit strange (now more prevalent compared to having a ton of grammar and spelling mistakes from the past decade).
• This is maybe subjective, but after decades, I’m yet to get anything positive out of emails containing any of the following terms:
  “kindly”, “quick question”, and “follow up”.

4. A Practical Example

I will use a latest offer I received to share my line of thinking. Note: I did not go forward with the offer, so I don’t and can’t claim that it’s a fraud/scam. I just did not want to risk it – it’s not worth it. The point of this article is to give you tools for avoiding frauds, not to deal with any one particular company (new frauds pop up every day). With that out of the way, let us begin.

This email passed the technical analysis, so it’s not a classic phishing or impersonation fraud.

4.1. First Email

🚩 Red Flag 1: No direct mention of what kind of Microsoft partnership this is.
🚩 Red Flag 2: Inconsistent branding (Enfinity vs. Adcelerate).
🚩 Red Flag 3: Generic language – no mention of my actual content or audience.

Hi BikeGremlin US,

Not using my name, but copy pasting my YouTube channel name.

I’m Redacted-for-privacy, Partnership Manager at Enfinity. I am reaching out about our distribution brand, Adcelerate.

Not clearly communicated who’s being represented here – Enfinity or Adcelerate.

I came across your channel and believe there’s a potential opportunity that could potentially fit for MSN to collaborate. Could you kindly point me to the right person to discuss a potential Microsoft partnership for your channel?

The word “kindly” is a red flag for me (in my experience, though I know many people use it legitimately). Colour me conservative, prejudiced, whatever.
Regarding the “Microsoft partnership” I had to check and confirm. Found this Microsoft link, so no official confirmation from Microsoft, yet on YouTube Adcelerate presents itself as “Microsoft certified”.

We are looking forward to hearing from you!

Best regards,
Redacted-for-privacy
Content Acquisition Specialist -POC

My reply:

Hi Redacted-for-privacy,

Thank you for reaching out. Could you provide more details about the specific nature of the potential partnership with Microsoft? Specifically:

What kind of collaboration are you proposing?
What would be required from my channel?
What are the terms or benefits of this partnership?
Looking forward to your response.

Best regards,
Relja Novović

4.2. Second Email

🚩 Red Flag 1: No concrete proof of Microsoft partnership – They claim an “exclusive collaboration with Microsoft” but provide no official Microsoft contact or verification.
🚩 Red Flag 2: “Free promotion, no effort required” – If they handle everything for free, how do they profit? Legitimate deals always involve clear mutual benefits.
🚩 Red Flag 3: Vague revenue model – They mention ad revenue but don’t explain how much they take, which is only revealed in the fine print (first $100 + 50% split + extra fees – see the TOS analysis below for details).
🚩 Red Flag 4: “Limited slots, act fast!” – False scarcity tactic to pressure me into signing without proper review.
🚩 Red Flag 5: Inconsistent branding (Enfinity vs. Adcelerate) – The first email mentioned “Enfinity,” but now it’s only “Adcelerate.” If they were truly representing Microsoft, the company name should be clear and consistent.
🚩 Red Flag 6: No transparency about content rights – They emphasize that I “retain ownership,” but the TOS later reveals they get extensive rights over my content, even after termination.

Here is the second email I got as a response to my reply:

Hi Relja,

Thank you for getting back to me! Sure! Here’s more info about our exclusive collaboration on Microsoft.

Does this mean that no other company has similar collaboration terms? Needs a deeper dive. Does sound bombastic and I think that the idea is to get me to feel special.

Adcelerate is a distribution brand collaborating with major platforms for promotional programs. Currently, this program will promote your content for free on Microsoft platforms like MSN, and earn new ad revenue from these promotions.

Your content will be featured to millions of daily Microsoft users, giving you more exposure to a newer audience while earning passive monthly ad revenue through promotional royalties.

Microsoft is expanding into content creation, and this program is exclusive to MSN publishers. Most creators can’t join directly unless invited by publishers like us. This is a perfect opportunity to join early and be part of their growing platform.

OK, so it is not exclusive to Adcelerate (I presume), but to all the “MSN publishers”. The “MSN publishers” deal really is invite only – MSN page for partner enlisting states that clearly.

Here’s how it works:

• Sign our quick eSign form to grant permission: https://adcelerate.com/esign
• We submit your registration to Microsoft for approval. Once approved, your videos will be added to Microsoft’s video feeds for promotion.
• Advertisers run ads on your content, and you’ll earn ad revenue on views and engagement each month.
• The program operates on a flexible 30 day auto renewing contract, can cancel at anytime.
• You still retain full ownership of your content. This is for promotional purposes only.

Vague, and still no explanation of the relation between Adcelerate and Enfinity from the first email.

Best part is? No cost or effort required. Adcelerate & Microsoft handle everything, from ad placement to content optimization, ensuring your content reaches the right audience and maximizes its revenue potential.

No mention of what Adcelerate takes – what’s in it for them!

Slots are limited, as each month we can only accept up to 500 creators and a lot of other creators are signing up with this exclusive offer.

They want to make me jump without thinking. See the common tricks list at the end of this article to learn more.

We’ve reviewed your content, and we believe it has a great chance to succeed and earn from this campaign, as it’s a great fit for Microsoft’s family-friendly platform.

Based on how generic their emails are (the first one and this reply), I doubt they have any idea of who they’re talking to (for better of for worse 🙂 ).

You can also visit our website Adcelerate Website to learn more.

Let me know if you have any questions, if you’re interested, or if you’d prefer to pass for now.

Redacted-for-privacy
Content Acquisition Specialist -POC

4.3. Problematic Terms of Service (TOS) Agreement

After having read the second email, I read the TOS that I’m expected to sign when signing up for this deal:
https://adcelerate.com/tos
Backup copy:
https://web.archive.org/web/20250119234850/https://adcelerate.com/tos

These are the parts that I find problematic (my comments with quoted sections).

They Have It All?

This section is very concerning because it suggests that all content I produce and post on any of my social media channels is included in the agreement by default upon signing up (also see the “Post-Termination Content Use” below).

SECTION 2. Content for Licensing
The “Content” means the content produced and posted to your social media channels that are being submitted upon registration and submission (examples include but are not limited to: YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Douyin, Kuaishou, etc.), as well as any other content that we and you agree in writing to include in this Agreement from time to time.

Revenue Sharing and Fees

The first $100 of monthly revenue is deducted as a service fee. Subsequent revenue is split 50/50 between me and Enfinity, with an additional 5% content hosting fee.

SECTION 3. Fees and Payments
1. For the first one hundred USD generated in a given month, we will deduct a free services fee equal to this amount because of its decision to absorb all of the cost, labor, and risk in allowing you to freely register to its services. Afterward, along with five percent of the revenues generated as a content hosting fee (at the moment, Dropbox Premium), Enfinity will automatically split the revenue with the Producer in accordance with the revenue-sharing rates of this agreement. The arrangement for Ad-feed royalties (external to YouTube Monetization) shall be shared fifty percent to you and fifty percent to us. Plus, an additional five percent to you (which is separate to the existing Ad-feed share) for any applicable algorithmic copyright claiming royalties, only if you opted in to this service upon registration.

Automatic Contract Renewal

The agreement is set for a 30-day term with automatic renewals. To terminate, I must provide a 30-day written notice before the renewal date.

SECTION 4. Contract Period
1. The period of this Agreement will be for 30-days with automatic renewals thereafter, unless you terminate this Agreement with 30-days written notice prior to the renewal date in the form of legal writing to [email protected].

Content Licensing Rights

While I retain ownership of my content, by agreeing to the TOS, I grant Enfinity (Adcelerate’s parent company) an exclusive, non-transferable license to use, reproduce, modify, and monetize my content across various multimedia platforms.

SECTION 5. Enfinity’s Rights and Licenses
1. The legal right and license to use, reproduce, digitize, encode, modify, monetize, re-format, transmit, re-broadcast, repurpose the Content you submitted upon registration and collect revenues from the promotion, protection, publishing, and management of the Content on our multimedia platform..

Shady looking clause for a documment visible on Google no less!?!

SECTION 7. Other Provisions
1. You agree to keep the terms of this Agreement confidential.

Post-Termination Content Use

If I terminate the agreement, Enfinity will cease promoting new content but retains the license to continue using previously promoted content.

SECTION 7. Other Provisions
5. You agree to, and are hereby bound to, our Terms of Service, found here, which may be amended from time to time. Fee and payment arrangements may also be amended from time-to-time. Continued use of our service is constituted as acceptance to such amendments. These terms include the exclusive, explicit, nontransferable content licensing rights to the content contractually submitted by you to Enfinity. These rights remain even if you terminate this Agreement, in accordance with section 4 of this Agreement.

4.4. My Reply

Considering everything stated above (the info I got and what I could find by using Google, Bing and Yandex), I have decided to not go along with this offer:

Hi Redacted-for-privacy,

After reviewing the offer and doing further research, I’ve decided not to move forward with this partnership.

I appreciate your time, but I won’t be signing any agreements at this time.

Best regards,
Relja Novović

Yes, I hate the word “research” (ab)used in this context – guilty.

5. Conclusion

Word of mouth from people you know well and trust is great for getting recommendations and avoiding scams. That is not always possible, of course, so just remember this:

Scams evolve, but the tactics remain the same. Always ask: “Is this too good to be true?” Use logic over emotion. When in doubt – walk away.
If you’re unsure about an offer, assume it’s bad until proven otherwise.

Feel free to share this article and help others avoid shady deals.

Appendix – Common Fraud/Shady Tactics

The first part of this article is geared more towards creators/influencers, but this is equally important for everyone.

In a separate article you can find an extensive list of logical fallacies, often used to manipulate people. Here, I’ll make a short list of advertising and common fraud tricks. The lists are by no means finished or complete – but they do hit the high points.

🚨 1. Urgency & Pressure Tactics

These scams push you to act fast so you don’t have time to think.

• Fake Scarcity
  “Limited time offer – only available for the next 10 minutes!”
  “Only 3 items left in stock! Buy now!”
  “Exclusive deal for the first 100 customers!”
• “Act Now or Lose It!” Offers
  “This partnership offer expires in 24 hours!”
  “We only have room for 10 more creators this month!”
  “If you don’t sign today, we’ll have to offer it to someone else.”

🗣️ 2. Fake Social Proof & Manipulation

Scammers use false credibility to make their offers look trustworthy.

• Fake Reviews & Testimonials
  Paid actors or bots writing 5-star reviews.
  “John from New York just bought this item!” (fake purchase notifications).
• Fake Endorsements
  Claims of celebrity or expert endorsements that don’t exist.
  “As seen on [Big-Name News Site]” (when it actually wasn’t).

🎭 3. Phishing & Impersonation Scams

Scammers pretend to be someone you trust to steal your data or money.

• Fake Business Emails
  Emails pretending to be from banks, PayPal, or Amazon asking for login details.
• Fake Customer Support Calls
  Scammers pretending to be Microsoft/Apple tech support, asking for remote access to your computer.
• “Friend/Family in Distress” Scams
  “Grandma, I need money to get out of jail!” (common on WhatsApp and email).

🎁 4. Fake Giveaways & Lottery Scams

If you didn’t enter a contest, you didn’t win one – it is that simple!

“Congratulations! You’ve won a prize – just pay a small fee to claim it!” Fake social media giveaways that ask for personal details. Rigged “Spin the Wheel” games – they always land on a “win” to trick you.

💰 5. Overpayment & Refund Scams

Scammers trick you into sending them money.

• Overpayment Trick
  Buyer “accidentally” overpays and asks you to refund the difference before their payment clears.
  Fake Refund Scams
  “You were accidentally charged – click here for a refund!” (leading to a phishing site).

🏠 6. Fake Jobs, Investments & Money-Making Schemes

If it sounds too good to be true, it is.

• Fake Job Offers
  “Earn $5,000 per week working from home!”
  “You must pay a small fee for training/materials.”
• Ponzi & Pyramid Schemes
  “Make money by recruiting others – just invest $500 to start!”
  Promises of guaranteed high returns with no risk.
• Crypto & Investment Scams
  “Get rich with Bitcoin! Guaranteed profits!”
  Pump-and-dump crypto schemes where scammers inflate a coin’s value and sell before it crashes.
  Fake trading platforms that let you deposit money but never withdraw.

💑 7. Romance & Dating Scams

Scammers play with emotions to get money.

• Catfishing
• Creating a fake identity to build trust and eventually ask for money.
• Long-Distance “Love” Scams
  “I want to visit you, but I need money for a visa.”
  “I have a medical emergency, can you send money?”

💻 8. Tech Support & Virus Scams

Fake warnings to trick you into giving remote access or money.

• Scary Pop-Ups
  “Your computer is infected! Call this number immediately!”
• Fake Microsoft/Apple Support Calls
  “We detected a virus on your computer—give us access to fix it.”

🌍 9. Fake Charities & Donation Scams

Scammers exploit disasters and human kindness.

Fake charities pop up after major disasters – always verify before donating. Fake GoFundMe campaigns using stolen photos (reverse Google image search can help!).

🛒 10. Fake E-Commerce & Dropshipping Scams

You pay but never get what you ordered.

• Scam Stores
  They advertise high-quality products but send cheap junk (buy a brick) – or nothing at all.
• No Refund Policy
  If they don’t have a clear return/refund process, run (yes, BikeGremlin shop has no refund policy either, but I still say that most such shops are shady).
• “Too Good to Be True” Prices
  If a $500 bike is selling for $50… it’s a scam.

📜 11. Subscription & Billing Traps

Variations of basically the same trick – “free trials” that never end.

• “Free trial – just enter your credit card!”
  Then they charge you monthly.
• Hard-to-cancel subscriptions with hidden fees
• Negative Option Billing
  You get charged automatically unless you opt out (and they make it difficult).

🏡 12. Fake Rental & Real Estate Scams

If they won’t let you see the place before paying, it’s fake.

• Fake Airbnb listings using stolen photos
• Owners who are “out of the country” and demand upfront payments.
• “Send a deposit before the viewing” – never do this.

⚖️ 13. Fake Debt Collection & Legal Threats

They try to scare you into paying money you don’t owe.

• “You owe the IRS money – pay now or get arrested!”
• Fake lawsuits or unpaid bills demanding immediate wire transfers.
• Calls pretending to be law enforcement asking for bail money.

✅ Quick Scam-Check

To spot a scam in 30 seconds, before trusting any offer, ask yourself:

✔️ Does it sound too good to be true?
✔️ Are they pressuring me to act fast?
✔️ Do they avoid giving direct proof (official contacts, detailed terms)?
✔️ Is their email/sender from an official company domain (not Gmail, Yahoo)?
✔️ Did I find negative reviews, complaints, or warnings online?

If one or more of these are yes, it’s probably a scam. 🚨

Scams keep evolving, but the tactics stay the same. Stay cautious, use your brain, not your emotions, and when in doubt – walk away.

Author

Relja Novović

Relja is an avid cyclist, a pretty good bike mechanic, and a professional computer systems administrator – with decades of experience in both those fields (computers and bikes 🙂 ). Relja Novović’s credentials and a short biography