The tricks used by aspiring influencers to fake their way to fame

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A man is lifting the lid on the many clever tricks used by Instagram influencers to fake their way to fame, revealing just how easy it is to craft an aspirational online identity in just a few simple steps.     

Writer-director Nick Bilton uncovers these strategies in a new HBO documentary, Fake Famous, which premiere on February 2, and follows him as he tries to build up three wannabe influencers: aspiring actress Dominique Druckman, art student Wiley Heiner, and designer Chris Bailey.

Over the course of a year, Bilton uses a series of simple tricks to manufacture their fame, buying followers and fabricating a luxurious lifestyle — and eventually gets Dominique, his most successful guinea pig, up to the 342,000 Instagram followers she has today. 

Buying followers 

It’s a poorly-kept secret that many influencers and celebrities have loads of fake followers.  

‘When you look on Instagram, there are over 140 million people who have over 100,000 followers,’ Bilton, 44, explained to the New York Post. ‘How is it that the entire population of Russia can be perceived as famous? It’s not possible.’

It’s fairly easy to pay for these faux fans, who aren’t real people but rather bots that follow algorithms and behave like real people. 

‘It was really shocking to see how pervasive it was, how much money goes into it, and how the tech companies really don’t have a desire to do anything about it, because it inflates their numbers,’ Bilton added.

In his documentary, Bilton went to websites like Famoid.com to purchase followers and likes, with 7,500 followers and 2,500 likes costing him $119.60.

‘You don’t have to go to the dark web, or anything, you just go to the straight up internet and you can buy pretty much anything you want,’ he said. 

Bilton really committed to the project, spending $15,000 on more than 300 follower-buying sites for his three influencers — but he thinks the average person could make themselves faux-famous for just $2,000. 

The scheme may lead some to wonder why it’s worth it, since none of those bots are real admirers.

But the overall goal is to make people ‘appear more popular than they really are’ — and the more popular they appear, the more real follower they will attract. 

More importantly, a high follower count can lead to sponsorship deals, including free gifts and even lots of cash.

According to Influencer Marketing Hub, a ‘nano-influencer’ with 1,000 to 10,000 followers on Instagram can earn up to $100 per post, while ‘mega-influencers’ with a million followers or more can earn $10,000 for a single post.

Dominique, for one, soon attracted brands who offered sponsorship deals and free trips. She has also scored more auditions as an actress since her follower count hit 100,000. 

There is one caveat, however: Occasionally, Instagram purges fake followers, deleting account that appear to be bots or spammers.  

Fake a luxe lifestyle to get free trips and products

Influencers are generally aspirational — so wannabes need to make it at least look like they’re living in the lap of luxury.

While some cash is necessary, though, aspiring influencers need not be rolling in the dough. 

‘[Influencers can] fake all-expenses paid, free camping trips, so that later they can get a free, all-expense paid camping trip,’ Bilton said in the film. 

‘They fake hiking in the Redwoods so they can try and get free hiking gear and sponsorships. They fake free upgrades to first class or trips on private planes.’ 

The photography tricks used to create an illusion of wealth 

Faking your environment can be pretty easy. In the documentary, faux-influencer Dominique poses for pictures and tags herself at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons, a five star hotel. In actuality, she was in Bilton’s backyard. 

She also posed in close-up with her head in a kiddie pool decorated with fake rose petals to simulate a spa treatment.

Designer Chris’s ‘private gym’ in Beverly Hills was actually shot in a warehouse. 

And rather than splash out money on champagne, the doc’s influencers drank apple juice in champagne flutes.  

In February of 2020, California-based influencer Natalia Taylor, 24, demonstrated this for her over 300,000 Instagram followers and two million YouTube followers.

The vlogger staged a fake trip to Bali, Indonesia, posing for photographer Ally Amodeo in her upscale ‘hotel room.’

Later, she revealed that all of the photos were really taken at her local Ikea.  

In a YouTube video about the stunt, she explained: ‘The timeline on Instagram had to be believable, so I started with my Stories and literally took pictures from the internet for this. I looked up the hashtag #Bali and found airport snaps that I took. 

‘The point of this video was to show people how easy it is to trick people into thinking you’re someone you’re not.

‘Everyone believed I was there, no one is questioning it – even though the Ikea tag is there in the second picture, along with an Ikea iPad,’ she added. 

And in April 2019, vlogger Gabbie Hanna faked a trip to Coachella. 

The YouTube star had photos of herself professionally edited by photographer Kellan Hendry to make it appear as though she attended the second weekend of the music festival. 

She also turned her friend’s home into her ‘Airbnb’ and printed out fake versions of the Coachella artist wristband. 

Later, she revealed the truth in a YouTube video titled ‘I Faked Going To Coachella,’ explaining that she was inspired by other social media influencers who have pulled off similar tricks.   

‘I can pull this off because I know people who go to Coachella weekend one and bring twice as many outfits and double up on their outfit each day so that they can pretend like they’re at Coachella weekend two, but they’re not,’ she said.

‘They’re at home,’ she explained. ‘Social media is a lie. So what I’m doing isn’t that far from reality anyway.’ 

While wannabe influencers can turn to Photoshop and fake locales, they can also take photos at real luxe locations for a price.

In the HBO documentary, Bilton rents a mansion for a photoshoot, spending $600 to have access for the afternoon. While that’s no small fee, it’s certainly a lot cheaper than buying the mansion. 

Bilton also stages a photoshoot inside a private jet studio for $49.99 an hour.

The set looks like the inside of a jet — as long as it’s filmed from the right angle. 

‘Literally anything is available to you to help fake your shoots, including fake private jets,’ he says in the doc.  

Influencers have made great use of fake private jets. In 2018, 33-year-old LA-based artist and entrepreneur Matty Mo debuted The Private Jet Experience in Los Angeles.

The traveling project was a replica of the interior of a Gulfstream G3 jet, built solely for the purpose of a cool Instagram snap.

Originally stationed inside the Fred Segal store on LA’s Sunset Boulevard, the installation was outfitted with faux leather seats, carpeting, and props like glasses of champagne.  

‘The Private Jet Experience was created because we wanted to be able to take pictures on a private jet like all of the celebrities we see online,’ Mo said in a statement.

‘Most people cannot afford a real jet, so we made one that democratizes access to a backdrop previously reserved for the rich and famous,