Why the Influencer World Is a Fake Paradise (And How It’s Actually Dangerous)
I’m currently fired up about this topic, so excuse me if I go off the rails a little and rant more than once. I’ll try to keep the personal anecdotes to a minimum.
Scroll through Instagram, TikTok or YouTube and you’ll see it with millions of followers: the perfect life.
Champagne at sunset, designer bags, private jets, mansions with infinity pools, the perfect fit body (men and women), the routine of spa and self-care most of us would die for, and the jewelry the royal family would kill for. Let me first say loudly that most of the things like this you see online is more fake than their boobs and tiny waistline.
For many of us it’s fun escapism to watch how others “live”, but there’s a growing dark side to all of this when those images start becoming tools, literal weapons, for deception, and also ruining others’ lives in the pursuit of the look.
And yes, some of the biggest names behind the glamorous feeds have ended up in courtrooms.
The Show: “Look at Me, I’m Living It”
From the outside, the influencer world seems built on authenticity to make you and me salivate. It’s real people sharing their lives, their journeys, their successes and the glamour of being them.
But that’s not even half the story.
In practice, the visuals get edited, the story gets curated, and the “journey” looks effortless.
The bags, the cars, the trips all become props in a narrative that is often exaggerated or just completely made up. Followers think: If I buy that course / join that program / invest in that link, maybe I can get close to this too.
And even if the influencer is legitimate, the environment creates intense pressure. The more you show, the more you need to show, and the feed continuously needs to dazzle.
That’s also a big IF.
Don’t forget, most of what you see online isn’t even a little bit real. Fitness influencers sometimes are lifting fake weights to show off their impressive bench press. I’ve personally seen people come into the Four Seasons with empty shopping bags (of designer brands) then set them up to take photos so it looks like they went shopping at Prada or Louis Vuitton before coming to the Four Seasons where they order the cheapest thing on the menu and tip $0.
Not only are videos and photos edited so that they might have no hold in reality, they’re also using fake props and you don’t see what’s actually going on behind the camera.
Our minds are being poisoned to believe that these “daily” lives are real and achievable.
The Reality Behind the Filter
Behind the brand deals and curated posts, there are some harder truths that people won’t share with you.
The “overnight success” narratives often ignore years of struggle, debt, and hustle. Unless you won the sperm lottery and were born into generational wealth, you needed to hustle hard to make an honest living for yourself with that much disposable income.
All these big and flashy purchases (if they’re even real) oftentimes require enormous debt or outside sponsorship. Tons of these influencers are living off credit cards and their debts are stacking up while they wait for ways to monetize their millions of followers on Instagram.
Some programs or products promoted are also hard to verify. Some are real, some are aspirational, some borderline harmless, but some cross into predatory. I can’t tell you how many ads I’ve seen on Facebook claiming “I make $512,000 per month as a motivational speaker, and you can too!” …I’m sorry, you make half a million per MONTH? You’re so full of schite your eyes are turning brown. The comment section is blown up with 2,000 comments of people claiming “oh my god, this is real and I did it and it changed my life,” while any negative comments are deleted from the post. The scary thing is, some people might believe this. A lot of us out there are struggling in our day jobs and working hard then spend our money on programs like this because we’re desperate for a change.
Because the audience trusts the person (they follow them, their “story” resonates) the lines blur. The influencer becomes both a friend and an authority in whatever it is they’re preaching about. Authority without any accountability is dangerous in a lot of ways.
When It Becomes Fraudulent
Okay, so I only ranted a little so far (sorry about that), but now let me back up what I’m saying with real influencer stories who ended up in hot water legally.
Don’t forget, a lot of these people use the image of success to lure followers into schemes, investments, courses, flops…and then vanish.
Jebara Igbara (aka “Jay Mazini”). Once a hot Instagram influencer showing luxury lifestyle, handing out cash in viral videos. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud, conspiracy and money-laundering for overlapping schemes that defrauded victims of at least $8 million. He used the social media persona to build trust, then ran a Ponzi-type setup involving crypto, fake investing, and more. Classic.
Mikki Lynn Fox (aka “Michaela Pink” / “Summer Black”) from Houston was a lifestyle YouTuber-influencer who pitched house-flipping investments to her followers, took their money (~$136K), and vanished. She was sentenced to prison.
“Lifestyle influencers” mis-using the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and other pandemic relief funds to fund designer lifestyles and mansion posting. A South Florida man named Valesky Barosy got 6+ years for over $4.2 million in relief-loan fraud, buying luxury cars and using social-media bragging to legitimize his persona. Danielle Miller also did this in Miami and used $1.5 million to get plastic surgeries and live that glamorous lifestyle. In her sentencing she wrote a 30 page explanation to the judge about how everyone was doing it.
These aren’t just “overspending” or “bad deal” stories, they’re a blatant misuse of trust, of image, and power.
Why the Illusion Works So Well
Influencers look like us, they’re just chill ordinary people turned extraordinary. Followers think: “if they can do it…”
The feed shows the bags, the jets, the snapshots of success. It’s proof enough for many. Even though they have apartments you can rent by the hour in Miami and LA, luxury cars you can rent for the day, boats you can hire someone to take you on for a few hours, fake weights you can buy at some of these influencer stores that sell a bunch of fake crap.
Influencers build connection with their followers. They tell some sob story about how they overcame adversity or whatever other cock-and-bull story they tell you and then they rose to the top. The follower that way isn’t just a customer, they’re a fan, a part of the “journey.”
Unlike a corporation with audited statements, an influencer might just post a photo and say “join me,” and there’s minimal oversight and no transparency whatsoever.
FOMO and peer pressure plays a big part of it too: “everyone’s doing it.” “The next big drop.” The next course, the next investment will get me where they are. Yeah, remember the old saying your parents used to ask you, something about a bridge and jumping? Is it really worth losing money or ending up in jail because everyone else is doing it? If you’re not sure, just ask Danielle Miller. I’m sure she’s had some time to think in her 41 month sentencing after taking out those PPP loans.
The annoying part to me is that the algorithmic amplification that’s also happening on these platforms. Bright visuals + aspirational hooks = engagement. Platforms reward it, so it gets louder and louder until it finds its way to your feed.
Please, do me a favor and just be skeptical of the lifestyle as proof of legitimacy. The shiny car doesn’t equal ethical business, it could be a million other things going on behind the scenes you’ll never see.
Do your own homework when you see this stuff. Verify credentials and check track record before putting a dime into anything. Ask critical questions and see if their plan actually makes any sense to you at all before clicking that “buy” button. You work hard for your money, and you don’t deserve to have it taken from you by someone who rented a Lamborghini for the day to tell you how you can become them one day.
Don’t confuse “access” (influencer sells you something) with “advantage” (it actually helps you). A lot of good people are out there sharing how they made money for free that you can try with low risk. You can find authors writing blogs about how they did it, businessmen on podcasts talking about how they did it (I’m a fan of My First Million), I’m sure there’s someone in your dream life out there who got there realistically sharing how you can do it too.
Learn to distinguish between genuine mentorship vs. that sales funnel. Some influencers are legitimate, but many aren’t built for your success, they’re built for their feed.
And lastly, if I can remind you that real growth is messy. If the story is “overnight, effortless, just buy this one thing,” that’s often a red flag. People grind for years for their success story, and it isn’t effortless or overnight. You’re better off taking your energy and putting it toward a business that matters to you or that you could spend your life on than you are buying one of their programs online.
The influencer-industrial complex is evolving. Brand deals are saturated at this point. Influencers need something more to monetize: courses, programs, investment-funnels. That’s why everyone and their brother are offering courses for you to complete.
Regulatory scrutiny is increasing finally and a lot of fraudulent setups are getting exposed. Courtrooms will become more common features of “influencer stories.”
I personally think the fatigue of being sold to is real in this day and age. It feels like everything is for sale.
Platforms = competition. Authenticity may become the next currency, but as we’ve seen, authenticity can also be faked.
The Takeaway
Scroll another minute, see another perfect life, another hyped drop, another “limited offer.” Recognize that flash may hide lines of debt, players hustling, and in the worst case, a scam.
Being inspired is great and all, but being manipulated isn’t. Learn to recognize the difference as best you can.
When you click “buy that course,” “invest in that drop,” “join that mentorship” ask yourself if you’re buying, you, or just buying the image of someone else’s feed? Because when the feed collapses, the followers left behind are the ones holding the bills.
The influencer world isn’t inherently evil, but it is industrial now so much to the point where I feel like it is becoming more evil. There are viewers, creators, platforms, money, and illusions all intertwined.
Use the scroll wisely. Don’t let “someone living perfect on camera” become your decision-maker.
Your life, your values, your money deserve real integrity, not just good lighting.
When you turn your camera off at the end of the day what you go home to is what matters most, not what others’ think of you.
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