Brand deal email? Check it for a scam before you open anything

Paste the text of a sponsorship offer (don't click or download); get the red flags YouTube warns about and a safe way to verify it.

What it does

No bot required. Fake sponsorship emails are a known way to steal creator channels. Google's Threat Analysis Group reported (Oct 2021) that attackers impersonated real companies with "video ad collaboration" offers, often a demo of antivirus, VPN, music player, photo editing or game software, then sent a download link or a PDF with a link that installed cookie-stealing malware and took over the channel; hijacked channels were sold or used to broadcast crypto scams. YouTube's creator safety tips say YouTube will never ask for your password, and real YouTube emails come only from @youtube.com or @google.com addresses. Don't reply to offers of marketing help that needs channel access, or messages that send passwords to open encrypted files. Don't open untrusted files like "free thumbnail templates," "premium editing programs" or unknown software. Before replying to a brand deal, YouTube suggests verifying it by calling the company or reaching out to the person you usually work with, and giving helpers access with channel permissions instead of your password. Copy the email's text (not the attachment) into any chat AI and it lists the red flags and what's missing, then drafts a short note you send through the brand's official website contact, never the reply-to address. It can't prove an offer is real. Only the brand can.

Copy-paste prompt

No bot needed: paste this into Grok, ChatGPT, or Claude.

I got a sponsorship or brand deal email. I have NOT clicked any links or opened any files. Here's the text (I removed my own contact info):
[paste the email text, the sender's name and the full sender address]

Using YouTube Help's "Safety tips and resources for YouTube creators" and Google's warning about fake collaboration emails that deliver malware:
1. List any red flags you see, for example:
- The sender's domain doesn't match the brand's real website, is a lookalike spelling, or is a free email account.
- It asks me to download or install software, a "demo," a "media kit" that's actually a program, or a password-protected file.
- It asks for my password, a sign-in "to verify," or access to my channel before anything is agreed.
- Pressure: a big payment, a short deadline, "reply today."
- It asks me to pay a fee to join.
2. List what a real offer would usually spell out that's missing here (a named contact, the product, what I'd make, dates, how payment works), without saying it's real or fake.
3. Draft a short, polite note I can send through the brand's official website contact, or a phone number I look up myself (not the reply-to address), asking them to confirm the person and the campaign.
4. Remind me: don't open the link or file until the brand confirms; scan downloads first (YouTube recommends Enhanced Safe Browsing); turn on 2-Step Verification with a passkey; give helpers access with YouTube channel permissions, never my password; and never enter my Google password anywhere except myaccount.google.com.
5. If I already clicked or ran something, point me to YouTube Help's "Recover a hacked channel" steps.

Don't call the offer safe. Only the brand can confirm it.