What is a sugar daddy or blesser scam?
In a sugar daddy or blesser scam someone offers you a generous allowance for company online, then asks you to pay something first: a "verification fee", airtime, a voucher or an account to "activate" the payment. The allowance never comes.
The approach comes by DM on Instagram, Facebook or a dating app, often from an account with luxury photos. Sometimes they send a fake proof of payment or a screenshot of a transfer so that you believe the money is on its way and pay the fee.
A variation is the reverse: the "sugar baby" is the scammer and the person paying the allowance is the victim.
How to recognise it
- Nobody who is about to give you money needs money from you first.
- A screenshot of a transfer is not money. Only what shows as cleared in your own banking app counts.
- They ask for your banking login, a one-time PIN or your card details "to deposit". Never share these.
- The account is new, the photos are stock-like and they contact many people with the same text.
- Check the username and the photos: these accounts are reported often.
Frequently asked questions
- They sent me a proof of payment. Why is the money not in my account?
- Because the proof is fake. Do not pay any fee to "release" it.
Want to know if there are warning signs about the person you're chatting to? Veritaza checks the photos, the messages, the number, the email address, the name and the ID document, for R99.
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