How to spot fake followers before you pay an influencer

Followers, likes and even comments can be bought cheaply. An account padded with fake followers looks impressive in a screenshot, but no real person sees your product. For a restaurant or a salon paying Rs 10,000 for a reel, that is money spent on an audience that does not exist.

Open the creator's last 12 posts or reels. Add up the likes and comments, divide by 12, then divide by the follower count. That is their engagement rate.

There is no single correct number. It varies by niche and by account size, and smaller accounts usually have higher rates than big ones. What matters is the pattern: an account with 100,000 followers whose posts get 150 likes is not reaching 100,000 people.

Reels show a view count. When a creator's reels regularly get views close to their follower count or above it, the content reaches people. When views are a tiny fraction of followers, ask why.

• Real comments mention the content: the dish, the outfit, the place, a question about price or location.
• Warning signs: the same generic praise on every post, only emoji reactions, the same few accounts commenting every time, or comments in languages the audience does not speak.
• Look for the creator replying. Real audiences have conversations.

Real growth is mostly gradual, with spikes when a reel goes viral. Thousands of new followers overnight with no viral post to explain it usually means bought followers. Ask the creator how they grew. Real creators can point to the posts that took off.

For a local business, a creator with 15,000 followers mostly in Karachi can be worth more than one with 80,000 spread across other countries. Ask for the top cities from their Instagram insights, and compare it with where your customers are.

Stories are watched by a creator's most engaged followers. Ask for their average story views over the last week. If story views are only a tiny share of the follower count, a lot of that audience is inactive or fake.

A screenshot can be edited in a minute. Numbers pulled straight from Instagram are much harder to fake. On Wasta, creators' follower numbers come from Instagram itself instead of screenshots, so you compare applicants on the same verified figures. Post a campaign and every applicant arrives with their numbers attached.

1. 1Work out engagement on the last 12 posts.
2. 2Read about 30 comments across three posts.
3. 3Compare reel views with the follower count.
4. 4Ask for the audience's top cities and average story views.
5. 5Ask for two past collaborations, and message those brands if you can.
6. 6Agree deliverables, deadline and rate in writing before you pay anything.