Being a woman on the internet is tough. If you're not getting rape threats, you're getting crowds of perverts braying for you to "show bobs and vagine." Twitch streamer Pokimane took to TikTok recently to warn everyone about a scam she came dangerously close to falling for. Someone impersonated a brand she'd mentioned on stream and tried to trick her into sending nude pictures.
As a social media personality, Imane 'Pokimane' Anys frequently does collaborations with brands. So, it was no surprise to her when an underwear brand she uses and gave a shoutout to reached out to offer some free items. By the sounds of it, the emails were professional and convincing, as one even contained a PowerPoint presentation - scammers will go far to see boobs. Pokimane said, "the amount of effort they put in is both comical and frightening."
However, she realised something was up when the instructions given meant to aid with her taking her measurements were in fact asking her to just send a picture with a measuring tape around her naked torso. She also noticed that the email address was cleverly made to appear in her inbox as legit, but upon closer inspection was actually a Hotmail address.
Pokimane has used this near miss to remind other influencers to be careful when doing deals online. She reminds people to always use a P.O. box rather than their actual address, as if that gets leaked it can lead to a lot of hassle and even danger for streamers.
She says one of her friends was caught out by a similar grift and sent photos and private information to a scammer instead of a real company, so be careful what you do with your information and who you give it to. Amouranth had a stalker show up at her house once, and she acknowledges that "creepy fans are just part of the territory," but they shouldn't be.