How to Recognise Phishing Emails and Scams as a Blogger (2026 Guide)

It’s the night before a post goes live. You’ve got images queued, headlines tweaked, and you’re doing that last “quick email check” that always turns into twenty minutes.

Then you see it: Brand Partnership Inquiry.

The message reads like a dream. Great product fit, generous budget, fast turnaround. Your pulse lifts. This could be the one. And that’s the point.

Phishing is when someone pretends to be a real person or company to trick you into clicking, logging in, paying, or handing over a one-time code. Bloggers get targeted because our inboxes are public, our hopes are practical, and our work is tied to lots of logins.

This guide gives you a simple checklist you can run in minutes, even when you’re tired and rushing.

Why bloggers are a prime target for phishing and sponsor scams

A scammer isn’t trying to win your respect. They’re trying to get one useful thing, fast: your email login, your website admin access, your social account, your bank details, or even your audience’s trust.

Bloggers are easier to reach than big companies. Many of us publish a contact email on a site footer, a media kit, or a “Work With Me” page. We also rely on tools that link together. If someone gets into your email, they can often reset passwords for your CMS, hosting, newsletter provider, and socials in a few clicks.

The goals tend to fall into four buckets:

Steal logins: Take over your email, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, or WordPress.
Steal money: Fake invoices, “processing fees”, or payment redirection.
Steal files: Media kits, passport scans for “verification”, contracts, or tax forms.
Use your name: Message your followers, run crypto scams, or push dodgy links from your account.

Common blogger lures in 2026 are getting sharper, helped by AI-written messages that sound calm, specific, and oddly familiar. Recent security reporting highlights broader phishing trends creators will recognise, like urgent “copyright” or “policy violation” warnings used to steal logins, and lookalike links hosted on trusted services. If you want a quick scan of common patterns, common phishing emails seen in 2026 is a useful overview.

The most common blogger bait: sponsorship offers, collabs, and ‘account problem’ warnings

These are the openers that show up again and again, in email and DMs:

• “We loved your recent post, are you open to a paid collaboration this week?”
• “Your content matches our brand values, we’d like you as an ambassador.”
• “Podcast invitation: we’d like to interview you tomorrow.”
• “Copyright complaint received, your account may be restricted.”
• “Your Instagram account will be disabled, confirm within 24 hours.”
• “We need you to approve a shared contract document.”

What the scammer wants next is usually one of five moves:

A link click to a fake login page (often Google, Microsoft, Meta, or your email provider).
A file download (a “brief”, “contract”, or “product sheet” that carries malware).
A small fee (“shipping”, “verification”, “platform processing”, “legal filing”).
A password reset you didn’t request, to panic you into acting.
An MFA code (“Please send the code to confirm it’s really you”).

Keep this as a hard line: real brands don’t need your password, and they don’t need your one-time codes. If someone asks, it’s not a partnership. It’s a trap.

How to recognise a phishing email fast, the simple 60-second check

Think of this like checking a door before you open it. You don’t need to be a locksmith. You just need a routine.

Here’s a quick scan to run in the same order every time. Don’t start by reading the pitch. Start by checking the envelope.

1. Sender and reply-to
2. Tone and urgency
3. Links and QR codes
4. Attachments and shared files
5. The actual ask

Phishers have improved in 2026. Many messages are well-written now, because AI can polish grammar and mimic brand voice. That means you can’t rely on “bad spelling” as your main clue. You need to rely on structure and behaviour.

For a broader list of warning signs, compare your findings with phishing red flags to watch for. Use it like a checklist, not a scare story.

Check the sender, the domain, and the ‘reply-to’ before you read the pitch

The display name is the mask. The email address is the face.

A message can show “Nike Partnerships” while coming from something like nike.team.partnerships@gmail.com or nike-pr0.com. At a glance, it looks fine. Under pressure, it’s easy to miss.

Do this instead:

Look at the full sender address: On mobile, tap the name to expand it.
Check the domain: Is it the brand’s real domain, spelled correctly?
Check the Reply-To (if your email client shows it): Scammers sometimes send from one address but set replies to a different one.

Watch for lookalike domains, including:

• Small swaps like rn instead of m (it reads the same in some fonts).
• Extra words like support, verify, billing, secure, copyright.
• A real brand name buried inside a longer domain (for example, brandname-secure-login.example.com).

A simple rule that saves a lot of grief: if the email comes from a free address when it should be from a company domain, treat it as high risk. Some genuine small brands do use Gmail, but big-name “PR agencies” nearly always use their own domain.

One more gut check that works: if you can’t explain why they’re emailing you, slow down. A real partner will still exist in an hour.

Hover, preview, and distrust pressure: the red flags that catch most scams

Phishing works because it steals your attention. It tries to make you rush, then act, then regret.

The pressure cues tend to look like this:

• Urgency: “Within 2 hours”, “final notice”, “today only”.
• Threats: “Your account will be removed”, “legal action”, “copyright strike”.
• Secrecy: “Don’t tell anyone”, “keep this confidential”, “only you can fix this”.
• Odd timing: Middle of the night, weekends, or just before a holiday.
• Too-good money: Huge budget for vague deliverables, paid upfront, no briefing call.

Now check the links. Don’t click yet.

On desktop: hover your mouse to preview the URL.
On mobile: long-press to preview the link target.

Red flags in links:

• The visible text says one thing, the link goes somewhere else.
• A short link hides the real destination.
• It goes to a file share you weren’t expecting (fake SharePoint and cloud shares are common).
• A QR code replaces a link, so you can’t easily preview it.

If the message claims there’s an account issue, don’t use their button. Go to the platform yourself by typing the address or using your saved bookmark. Many account takeover scams depend on a single fake login screen that looks perfect.

If you want a UK-focused explanation of common warning signs, ways to spot phishing scams covers the basics clearly.

Attachments deserve extra suspicion in blogger pitches, because “contract attached” sounds normal. Still, treat these as high risk when unsolicited:

• ZIP files
• Unexpected PDFs that ask you to sign in to view
• “Contract” Word docs that request macros or “Enable Editing”
• Any file that pushes you to log in again

If you only remember one thing, remember this: a real partner can answer questions without rushing you to a link.

Mini checklist (screenshot this):

• Sender: real domain, reply-to matches
• Reason: I understand why they contacted me
• Pressure: no threats, no countdown
• Link: previewed, matches the brand, no weird redirects
• Ask: no password, no MFA code, no “small fee”

What to do when you suspect a scam: safe steps that protect your blog and accounts

Spotting the scam is half the job. The other half is staying calm and not giving the attacker extra information.

When something feels off, use this response plan:

Don’t click, even “unsubscribe” links in shady messages.
Don’t reply with details like your rate card, phone number, or schedules.
Take screenshots (subject line, sender details, and the suspicious part).
Verify through a separate channel (not the email thread).
Report and block in your email client and on social platforms.

A good mental model is: treat every surprise sponsorship like a cold sales pitch. It has to earn trust. It doesn’t get trust just because it flatters you.

Some security teams boil it down to two practical rules, which translate well for creators too. See two simple rules for spotting phishing and adapt them to your workflow.

Verify the offer without giving the scammer anything

You can verify a “brand deal” without touching their links.

Try this:

Find the brand’s real website yourself using a search engine or a bookmarked page, not the email.
Use a known contact route: a contact form, a listed press email, or an official social account.
Ask for a brief in plain text first (deliverables, timeline, budget range, usage rights).
Request a contract and read it slowly, ideally as a PDF from a verified address.

Real partners can answer basic questions without drama:

• What’s the budget range?
• What content format do you want (post, reel, newsletter)?
• What’s the timeline and approval process?
• What are the usage rights and length?
• Who is the legal entity paying me?

Scammers dodge specifics, push urgency, and try to funnel you into one action: “Open the doc”, “confirm your account”, “scan the code”, “pay the fee”.

If someone insists you must log in to view a “contract”, ask them to send the terms in the email body or as a standard PDF. Their reaction will tell you a lot.

If you clicked or logged in, do these fixes in order

Mistakes happen. People get caught when they’re tired, busy, or excited. The goal now is to cut off access quickly.

1. Change your email password first (your inbox is the master key).
2. Turn on 2FA or MFA on email, socials, and your blog admin. Use an authenticator app if you can.
3. Log out of other sessions (most platforms let you sign out everywhere).
4. Check for email forwarding rules and filters you didn’t set. Attackers use these to hide replies and reset links.
5. Revoke suspicious app access (look for “connected apps” or OAuth access in Google, Meta, Microsoft, and your CMS plugins).
6. Scan your device with a trusted security tool, and update your OS and browser.
7. Contact platform support if you see account changes, ad spend, or messages you didn’t send.
8. Warn followers if needed, briefly and plainly, if your account messaged them or posted links.

If your blog runs on WordPress, also check admin users, new plugins, and theme changes. If anything looks odd, restore from a clean backup and rotate passwords.

Conclusion

Phishing scams don’t win because they’re genius. They win because they rush you, flatter you, or scare you at the wrong moment.

Keep it simple: run the 60-second check (sender, urgency, links, attachments, ask). When anything feels off, verify the offer using a separate channel you choose, not a link they hand you.

Set up MFA on your email and main platforms, and treat every surprise sponsorship as a pitch that must prove itself. Slow beats fast when money and logins are on the line.

Next time that shiny “brand deal” lands five minutes before you hit publish, pause. Your future self will thank you for being boringly careful.