From fake illnesses to cryptocurrency crashes, the dark side of social media fame knows no bounds. Join us as we expose the most shameless influencer cons that left followers betrayed and bank accounts empty. These internet celebrities traded trust for cash, proving that not all that glitters on social media is gold.
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00:00I initially trusted this would be an amazing and memorable experience for all of us,
00:04which is why I agreed to do one promotion, not knowing about the disaster that was to come.
00:09Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at the most despicable time
00:13social media influencers and content creators scam people for financial gain or services.
00:18Authorities say in all, $1.5 million were taken from individuals and businesses.
00:25Hey WatchMojo fans, I'm Mark Cope, the designer of Terrible Influence.
00:29The brand new board game from WatchMojo that parodies the world of celebrities and influencers,
00:35including some of the people that are mentioned in this video.
00:38Now only a monster would ever scam their fans out of money or fake a disability to become rich and famous,
00:43but in this game, you get to be that monster.
00:46Why work hard or have talent when you can become just as famous for being the absolute worst?
00:52It's like the new game of life.
00:55Unfortunately.
00:55Terrible Influence is available for a limited time, only on Kickstarter.
01:02Edfluence, Jake Paul.
01:03It's always nice when veterans can pass down tips to younger folks in the industry.
01:07However, Jake Paul went another route.
01:10In 2018, he released the online course Edfluence to teach people how to be an influencer and make a career online.
01:16To begin with, folks were charged $7.
01:19However, this paywall only gave access to one video full of very basic tips.
01:24The answer is, you want to post as much as possible.
01:27To get more information, people needed to pay an additional $57, but it turned out the rest of the videos were equally useless.
01:34Edfluence was shut down in 2020.
01:36Shortly after, Paul opened up to the Financial Freedom Movement, which was essentially a rebrand of Edfluence,
01:42just far more expensive at $19.99 per month.
01:45Scamming Romance
01:46Mona Fai's Montrage
01:48Also known as Mona for real and Hadjia for real, Mona Fai's Montrage is a Ghanaian influencer and hip-like musician.
01:57However, when she was in the UK in 2022, Montrage was arrested on suspicion of fraud.
02:03She was accused of running a group that targeted vulnerable older people with romance, only to steal vast sums of cash from them.
02:09It's believed her operation had taken in over $2 million.
02:12It was achieved through fraudulent emails, text messages, and social media communication.
02:18In 2023, Montrage was exordited to the US to face charges.
02:22The disgraced influencer pleaded guilty to conspiracy to handle stolen money.
02:26Montrage was sentenced to a year in jail in order to pay back the ill-gotten funds.
02:31The Pandemic Relief Con
02:32Danielle Miller
02:33When COVID-19 hit in 2020, many governments set up financial relief funds to help small businesses cope with the lost income.
02:41Many people didn't take advantage.
02:42But then there's Danielle Miller.
02:44From July 2020 to May 2021, Miller stole the identities of 10 people and used them to apply for government benefits that totaled around $1.5 million.
02:54Accused of stealing the identities of more than 10 people across the country to obtain COVID-19 relief money.
02:59She then used the money to fund the luxurious lifestyle she promoted on social media, including chartering private planes and staying in expensive hotels.
03:07In 2023, while she was already serving a five-year sentence for bank fraud in Florida, the self-described con artist was sentenced to another five years in Massachusetts.
03:15Every penny that went to a fraudster from the unemployment insurance program didn't go to someone who was unemployed.
03:22And that's a real tragedy out of this.
03:24Lymphoma Can Suck It
03:26In 2012, while living in San Jose, California, Amanda Riley announced she had stage 3 Hodgkin's lymphoma.
03:33The Christian blogger soon set up the blog, Lymphoma Can Suck It, where she detailed her battle with the disease, with images of her in a hospital.
03:40She started a blog.
03:42It blew up pretty quickly.
03:45Amanda was the symbol of hope in the church.
03:47On top of that, donation websites were created to help, bringing in over $100,000 and giving Riley the chance to meet celebrities.
03:55However, it was all a lie.
03:57There was no reason for us to doubt that she was telling the truth.
04:01In 2015, Riley's friend Lisa Berry contacted investigative reporter Nancy Maciatello with concerns about the illness being fake.
04:08In 2019, Riley was arrested for fraud, and in 2021, she pleaded guilty to the charges and received five years in jail, on top of paying restitution for the stolen cash.
04:19She has told me that she is deeply regretful and wanted to save her time.
04:25Shock.
04:25Hawk Tua
04:26It's weird the sort of things that can make a person famous.
04:29For Hayley Welch, it was popping up intoxicated in a YouTube video for Tim and DTV.
04:34There, she detailed how to make men happy, with Hawk Tua, earning her that nickname.
04:39Oh, you gotta give him that Hawk Tua.
04:41From that, Welch became a viral star, creating a brand.
04:45However, like Icarus, she flew too close to the sun.
04:48In late 2024, Welch announced her cryptocurrency meme coin token, Shock.
04:53Within hours of its release, the coin's market value shot up, then plummeted 90% from $490 million to $60 million, later falling to $25 million.
05:03Investors lost all their money, sparking allegations it was all a scam and culminating in a lawsuit.
05:09The lawsuit targets the Hawk Tua's creators and promoters, but not Welch herself.
05:14Teen Scheme
05:15Kayla Massa
05:16Armed with hundreds of thousands of followers across social media accounts, Kayla Massa started posting Instagram photos of stacks of cash, and asking people to DM her if they wanted to make easy money.
05:26She would prey on her followers to light her own pockets.
05:30Preying primarily on her teen following, Massa was engaged in a complicated scam to deposit stolen money orders into their accounts, then withdraw the cash for herself before the banks discovered the fraud.
05:40When the marks realized what happened, Massa would block them.
05:44Authorities say Massa blocked the victims online while she deposited bogus checks made in the names of real businesses.
05:51Altogether, Massa and her accomplices took in over $1.5 million before getting arrested in 2020.
05:58In 2025, Massa posted on a new Instagram account since the last one was deleted, saying that she spent the previous 13 months in jail that was now under house arrest.
06:07The Fake Lifestyle
06:08Nigerian influencer Ramon Oloronwa Abbas, better known as Hush Puppy, was known for posting his lavish lifestyle on social media.
06:17He really kind of put it in everybody's face, like, hey, look at me.
06:22Abbas claimed he made his cash as a real estate developer, but in reality, he was committing massive fraud.
06:27In 2019, he was part of a scheme to launder $14.7 million stolen by hackers at Malta's Bank of Valletta, plunging the country into panic.
06:36Abbas also attempted to steal $124 million from an unnamed English Premier League football team.
06:42His targets allegedly included a U.S. law firm, a foreign bank, and an English Premier League club.
06:49After his arrest, Abbas admitted his plan to launder over $300 million.
06:53In 2022, he was sentenced to 11 years in jail and had to pay $1.7 million in restitution.
06:59I think even though we believe Mr. Abbas is a major player in this, he's only a bit player in the entire infrastructure of the complete organization.
07:10Easter eggs and Pandoro.
07:12Chiara Ferragni.
07:13With millions of followers on social media, Ferragni was one of Italy's biggest influencers.
07:18She even had a Barbie designed after her.
07:20My name is Chiara Ferragni, and I chime for women's empowerment.
07:23In 2022, Ferragni began selling Pandoro, an Italian Christmas cake, claiming that sales would help fund research at the Regina Margherita Pediatric Hospital.
07:32Understandably, people believed that in buying the cakes, they were supporting the hospital.
07:36Previously, Ferragni had also sold Easter eggs that supposedly benefited a children's charity.
07:41However, both of these were seemingly lies, as neither organization received any money.
07:45In 2023, Ferragni was fined almost $1.2 million for the Pandoro scandal.
07:51In 2024, she agreed to pay nearly $1.3 million to a charity for the Easter eggs.
07:56She's also facing criminal charges.
07:58Model's Secret Life of Horror.
08:00Cat Torres.
08:01In addition to being a model, Brazilian Cachuccia Torres Suarez, known as Cat Torres, ran an Instagram account that promoted self-help, much of which revolved around spiritualism.
08:11America was where Cat really started to take off on social media.
08:15And it was Instagram that enabled her to build and monetize her own wellness brand, turning followers into clients.
08:23However, Torres wasn't as humanitarian as she appeared.
08:27In reality, she was positioning herself as a cult leader and taking advantage of fellow Brazilians in need.
08:32Torres invited them to live with her in the U.S.
08:35But when they arrived, they were trafficked and turned into slaves under Torres' control.
08:39In Brazil, the story dominated news outlets.
08:43The women's family and friends started social media campaigns in a desperate bid to find them.
08:49The disappearance of two women led the FBI to get involved, and eventually, Torres was arrested.
08:54In 2024, she was sentenced to eight years in prison.
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09:19Fake Cancer
09:22In 2013, Australia's Belle Gibson burst onto the influencer scene by releasing the nutrition mobile app, The Whole Pantry.
09:31Even more impressive, Gibson supposedly did it while suffering from multiple cancers, which she detailed on social media.
09:36She said she was a sick young mom who found her salvation in wholesome foods and natural therapies.
09:43Gibson even stated she'd given hundreds of thousands of dollars to charity.
09:47However, all of it was a lie.
09:49Gibson didn't have cancer, and she didn't give money to charity.
09:52Along with the Schwartz family, there have been a number of charities Belle has pledged money to, which have not seen a cent.
09:59In 2015, after months of speculation and a growing mountain of evidence, she admitted her fraud in an interview with the Australian Women's Weekly.
10:06In 2017, she was found around $311,000 USD for her fraud, which of course, she has yet to pay.
10:14While she concedes she might have caused damage to others, extraordinarily, Belle maintains she's the real victim here.
10:21Which of these scams left you shocked? Let us know below.
10:24She was so blissful, she was so sweet, and then she turned into an absolute narcissistic monster.
10:31Did you enjoy this video? Check out these other clips from WatchMojo, and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.
10:39Alright, welcome.
10:48We're going now.