Creator Fan Communities on Telegram: Stopping Fake Sponsorship Offers, Impersonated Creators and "Giveaway Winner" DMs
YouTubers, streamers and podcasters often run a Telegram group where fans chat between uploads. These groups are friendly and informal, which is exactly why they attract scammers. Fans trust anything that looks like it comes from the creator, and creators get a steady stream of "business offers". This guide covers both sides: protecting fans from impersonators and protecting the creator team from fake sponsorship deals.
Scams aimed at fans
Impersonated creators. An account copies the creator's name, photo and bio and messages fans privately: "Thanks for being a loyal viewer! You've won our monthly giveaway, just pay the shipping fee." The creator never sent it.
"Giveaway winner" links. Messages in the group or in DMs announce winners and link to a "claim page" that asks for card details or a Telegram login code.
Fake merch shops. Lookalike stores selling the creator's merch at a discount, posted by new accounts. Orders never arrive.
Crypto and investment promotions. "The creator recommends this coin" posts, sometimes with deepfake video clips.
Scams aimed at the creator team
Fake sponsorship offers. A message from "the marketing team" of a known brand offers a paid sponsorship. The attached "contract" or "product brief" is an archive or a document with malware that steals browser sessions, which is a common way channels get hijacked.
Fake platform notices. "Your channel has a copyright strike, verify here", sent to admins of the fan group.
Collab requests that ask for admin rights. "Make me admin so I can post the giveaway." Once they have rights, they remove the real admins.
Set up the fan group
- Hide the member list (Group settings → Members → Hide members). Most impersonator DMs start by scraping members.
- Give the creator and moderators visible admin titles, for example "Creator" and "Mod". A fake account can copy the name and photo, but not the admin title in the chat.
- Pin a giveaway rule: "Giveaway winners are announced only in this pinned topic or on our official channel. We never DM winners first and never ask for fees or login codes."
- Link the official merch store in the pinned message, so lookalike shops stand out.
- Restrict links and media for new members for the first days.
- Use a read-only Announcements topic for anything official: uploads, streams, giveaways.
Rules for the creator team
- Open sponsorship documents only from verified brand domains, preferably in a browser preview rather than downloading files.
- Never run downloaded "brief" files or archives. Real briefs are PDFs or shared documents.
- Grant admin rights only to known people, with the minimum permissions needed.
- Check unusual platform notices inside the platform itself, not through links.
When an impersonator appears
- Ban the account and delete all its messages.
- Post a warning with a screenshot (blur fan details).
- Report the account to Telegram as impersonation.
- Remind fans of the giveaway rule.
Automatic filtering
After a viral video, a fan group can gain hundreds of members in a day, and impersonators and crypto spam follow quickly. An anti-ad bot handles the repetitive part: links from accounts that just joined, copy-paste "giveaway winner" messages, fake merch ads and mass mentions.
虾宝 (Xiabao) is an anti-ad bot for Telegram groups that is free for group owners. Add @xiabaotg_bot as an admin with permission to delete messages and ban users, and it filters ad and scam posts automatically, so moderators can focus on the community. The Xiabao setup guide for Telegram group owners walks through the permissions.
Checklist
- Member list hidden
- Creator and mod admin titles set
- Giveaway rule pinned
- Official merch link pinned
- Links restricted for new members
- Read-only Announcements topic
- Team rules for sponsorship files and admin rights
- Anti-spam bot running
References
- Telegram FAQ, privacy and security settings: telegram.org/faq
- Telegram Bot features, including admin rights for bots: core.telegram.org/bots/features
Disclosure: written by the 虾宝 (Xiabao) team, which maintains the bot mentioned above.