OD Collective Ambassador aka the Oriental Drift Scam

OD Collective Ambassador: How The Oriental Drift Scam Works

Our readers have been asking us about the existence of a so-called OD Collective Ambassador scam. It is also known as the Oriental Drift Scam. What is it? You may receive an Instagram message or email with an offer of becoming a brand ambassador for a ‘clothing company'. However, many reviews online tag this as the OD Collective scam.

Let's take a look at what this scheme is about and create awareness, after receiving so many complaints.

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The OD Collective (Oriental Drift) direct messages and emails that victims get are sent through online bots. The recipients are told that OD Collective likes their style, and the company wants to offer them the official title of “OD Collective ambassador” or the “Oriental Drift ambassador”. As the social media platforms – especially Instagram and Facebook – are full of people who truly believe are influencers, many fall victim to this instant gratification title. But let's dig a little deeper.

What's the best way to incentivize people than giving them a pompous title and discounts? Tons of social media scams do that. Another example is the Made With Melanin Instagram message.

The incentivizing part sounds great as a concept, but let's see who you are doing it for. OD Collective has tons of negative reviews on specialty websites like TrustPilot. One of the 1-star ratings says that Oriental Drift scam lures you into believing that they have ‘free' clothes for you, but you have to make a purchase first.

However, the purchase costs $70. “These items value $3 apiece on AliExpress or Taobao, and OD Collective is charging you $70. You pay because you think you are a brand ambassador. Most people don't ever receive their items anyway”, says Dan Steele, a reviewer who was pulled into the scheme.

As Dan also said, we cannot put it any better – you are not an ambassador or an influencer. You've just been on the receiving end of a marketing trick, promoting something.

OD Collective Scam: How To Avoid

Many Instagram users fall for the OD Collective Ambassador scam because the market of ‘influencers' is saturated by a younger audience. This group of people takes pride in showing off bogus titles while looking for validation, while vultures know exactly how to take advantage of the situation. Stay away from the Oriental Drift Scam!

The best approach for this is to avoid altogether, unless, of course, you are happy to pay a  lot of money for things that cost 80% less. Meanwhile, be aware of other email scams and some common Amazon scams going around.

OD Collective: How To Report the Oriental Drift Scam

Warn your family and friends about the OD Collective Scam by sharing this article on social media using the buttons provided. If you are wondering how to report a scam website, you can also officially do it to the Federal Trade Commission using the link below:

Report To The FTC Here

 

How To Prevent Identity Theft and More

If you want to be the first to find out the most notorious scams every week, feel free to subscribe to the Scam Detector newsletter here. You'll receive periodic emails – we promise not to spam. Meanwhile, educate yourself with some other fraud-related articles right under this paragraph, so that you can protect yourself in many other aspects and niches. Last but not least, use the Comments section below to expose other scammers.

Here are some must-reads for the end:

How To Tell If Amazon Reviews Are Real

Get Paid To Write Reviews Scam