A woman wearing a cerise pink dress sits at a desk. Her backdrop a crisp white wall, a generic piece of artwork peeks into shot. ‘Pocket Rocket’ by Cochise plays, as the following text appears: *Aged 18-40. How to make 100K with no experience.*
She’s giving off major aspirational vibes as she points to different suggestions popping up around her – in time to the music, of course. It’s a TikTok video, after all. First it’s ‘stripper’ (spelled ‘skripper’, presumably to foil TikTok’s filter). It’s a ‘no’, indicated by red cross emojis. Then ‘Only Fan$’, also ‘no’. But it’s a ‘yes’ to ‘Affiliate Marketing’ and ‘Trading and Investing’. Hashtags are things like #bossbabe, #girlswhotrade and #affiliate. And just to reiterate, you can’t be over 40.
Viewers must then DM this woman (whose Insta stories are full of her with other glamorous women on cocktail-filled nights out) to find out how to make this £100K. This suggests that she’s promoting a product or service – or some variation of an MLM model. And it’s tempting… For a second, before common sense kicks in.
The fin-fluencers dishing out advice on TikTok
The number of clips like this on social media are growing. Search #investing, #crypto or #personalfinance on TikTok, and millions of videos, with billions of views, pop up. Instagram is filled with millions of financial hashtags. Financial influencers are so popular they have their own name: ‘Fin-fluencers.’ You…
