"Both comical and frightening" - Pokimane shares warning about high-effort scams targeting influencers

Popular Twitch streamer Imane "Pokimane" recently shared a story about an elaborate scam that targeted her, and used the incident to warn other social media influencers about the lengths some scammers will go to.

She posted the story on her TikTok, detailing the story of a scammer who posed as a representative of Neiwai, a company that makes women's underwear. She realized it was a scam after noticing that the email asked her to send her bra measurements in the form of a photo of her bare chest, as well as her home address.

"The amount of effort they put in is both comical and frightening."

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Pokimane shares a warning about scam targeting influencers

As a popular streamer and prominent figure on social media in general, Pokimane has probably seen more than her fair share of scammers attempt to dig up personal information about her. She nearly fell victim to one such scam, where the perpetrator claimed to be a reprisentative of Neiwai, a company that sells women's underwear and lounge wear.

The popular streamer originally thought nothing of it when she received an email that appeared to be from the company, as she had purchased their products in the past and had even given them a shoutout in an earlier post. The email thanked her for the shoutout, and later asked if she would like some free merch to be sent from the company:

"They asked me if I wanted some PR, which if you use the stuff then why not, right?"

The email asked for her bra measurements as well as her home address to ship the products. Pokimane was on a trip to New York at the time and asked if she could hold off until she returned home to Los Angeles. Later, she reread the email and realized that it didn't ask for just the measurements, but also to send a photo of her bare chest.

That detail tipped Pokimane off that something was amiss, as no company would ask for such a photo. Upon realizing that the email was not legitimate, and was instead a scam, she began seeing the amount of effort that the scammer put into the ruse in a new light.

In the TikTok video about the scam, she shared the elaborate PowerPoint presentation the scammer sent about the company, as well as the multiple polite responses they sent in response to her. The impostor played the part of a PR representative quite convincingly, which Pokimane described as "comical and terrifying."

"I don't want to think about what they would have done if I actually sent them anything. Whether it's extort me for money or blackmail me. If they have my address it's even worse."

Fortunately, Pokimane did not fall for the scam, and used her platform to bring these types of scams to the attention of others.