I think I might have been scammed by one of Nigeria’s biggest creators, but I want you to be the judge.
In July, I was randomly scrolling on Instagram when I stumbled on Steven Ndukwu’s page. He’s a Nigerian YouTuber with over 800k subscribers and well over 2 million combined followers across platforms. He posted a job opportunity that piqued my interest. It was for a short form editor, specifically a clipper.
I already knew about clipping and even had some experience posting clips for a creator in the past, so this was right up my alley. I applied for the role, and a few days later I was added to a WhatsApp group called “Steven Ndukwu – Clippers.” When I joined on July 6th, I could see that the group was created on June 25th and the rules of the campaign were dropped subsequently.
When I initially applied for the job, I didn’t know it was going to be a clipping campaign. I thought it would be a regular remote job, but I was actually excited to see that it was more of a campaign/program.
In the introduction message posted by the group admin, the goal of the program, mode of operation, payment structure, content guidelines and posting requirements were clearly outlined and I went through it carefully. We were going to be paid $1 for every 1000 views we were able to generate from properly clipping Steven’s content and posting it on our personal accounts. Sounds strange, I know. But I promise, clipping is a real thing.
If you don’t really understand what clipping is, here’s a quick breakdown of the business model; Clipping is basically cutting up someone’s long form videos or livestream, turning it into engaging short form content (known as clips), and with their permission posting it on your own accounts across platforms like Tiktok, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook, with the creator paying you for every 1000 views that your clip is able to generate. Some people pay as low as $0.3, while I’ve seen campaigns pay as high as $10 for every 1000 views generated. However, the industry average is $1 per 1000 views and that was what Steven offered to pay for this program.
After going through and getting familiar with everything necessary to start clipping for Steven, I created my brand new accounts on Instagram, Tiktok and YouTube and started posting the next day. The campaign promised to payout every month so I had the next 30 days to cook.
My first few videos only got a couple thousand views, but this was a brand new account (TikTok) with 0 followers so I kept posting. Eventually, I started getting tens of thousands of views and things looked promising. Then Steven dropped a new video where he got to visit Dangote’s house and I started posting clips from that video. One of my clips from that video was my first clip to hit 100,000 views.
I clipped more from this specific video (Dangote video) and 2 more clips passed 100,000 views. Right now, those videos have over a million combined views. If you do the math, that’s an expected payout of over $1000. I was even more excited and kept posting. Another clip from a different video did almost 200k views, another did over 100k views. After a whole month of posting, by the time the campaign admins asked us to submit our video links for review and payment, I had generated 1,661,000 views from 64 videos, meaning I was set to receive $1,661.
I was ecstatic. I had posted over 130 videos across platforms and it seemed like I was going to get paid for my effort. We also had other clippers who were able to generate over 8 million views, 4 million views, 3 million views, 1 million views and so on. All we had to do now was wait for our videos to be verified and receive payment.
On July 27th, the group admin asked for links to videos that met the payment criteria to be sent, and people started sending their links. I sent mine in that same day. We were also told that the submission deadline was the 30th of July by 3pm. Everyone submitted before the deadline and we were asked to send in our payment details. Then we were asked again after a day. Okay. Maybe some people hadn’t sent theirs in. That was nothing crazy.
We heard nothing for the next 2 days until a message came from the admin saying that some people were running ads, buying fake views and this would delay payment for everyone because in her words “all views will be validated before any payment commences.” She asked for 5 business days for them to get back to us. It didn’t really make sense to me because we had officially entered a new month and now the payment was going to be delayed even longer, but we let them do their thing. Most people expressed their disappointment and we waited.
Then BOOM, that same day a random update was announced, there was now a payout cap per video (1 million views) and there were new rates for different platforms. It went from $1 per 1000 views for all platforms to $0.2 for TikTok and Facebook, $0.4 for X, and $0.5 for Instagram, and YouTube Shorts. We all expressed our displeasure at the new rate and payout cap but asked that it apply for the new month, not for work already done and results already generated.
The admin said the 1 million view limit would apply from last month which is a stupid decision, but I had no video with over a million views so it didn’t apply to me. Before all of this chaos, I had scheduled a meeting for clippers in the program to talk and help each other get better results. It was a meeting meant to share what was working and what wasn’t, so those who weren’t getting results could know what to fix.
Then another message from the admins dropped; there was now going to be a bonus for clippers who post 15 eligible clips whether or not the videos go viral or not. This bonus was 50k Naira. The bonus made sense as a way to compensate clippers who post quality videos but still aren’t going viral. However, this wasn’t what we wanted to hear in this moment. It was the most tone deaf thing I’d ever seen.
Prior to the payment debacle, Steven would talk on the group, encourage us to post on Tiktok and share links on how to go viral as a clipper. But when it was time to pay, we stopped hearing from him. Absolutely no communication. The time for our scheduled call to talk about how to get viral clips finally came, but that wasn’t anyone’s priority at the moment. Instead, people complained and talked about how unfair these changes were. At some point, the campaign admins joined the call and tried to explain their position, we heard them out and offered our suggestions on how to move forward with this clipping program but demanded that our payment for last month remain at the $1 per 1000 views we initially signed up for and that any changes should be made going forward. The admins told us they would get back to us after talking with Steven but believed the $1 rate would stand.
And… we continued waiting. It was now the 3rd of August, and we finally got word from the admins: “the new rates would apply going forward.” Thank goodness. This was what we all wanted to hear. We thanked them and waited to get paid on the promised payout date: 7th of August.
On the 5th, 2 days before the expected payout date, the admin came with another announcement, the new rates would stand because most of the views were coming from TikTok. What? What a joke! Wasn’t TikTok part of the platforms we were allowed to post on? This was the most stupid thing they had said so far. I was outraged. Everyone poured out their frustrations. We also reminded the admins of what they said just 2 days ago: “the new rates would apply going forward.” The whole group erupted with complaints and frustration but nothing was said by Steven or the admins.
Friday, August 7, finally came and by 12pm when people started asking about their payments, the admin used stickers to respond to them; essentially mocking them. By 1:40pm another admin dropped screenshots of payments that had gone out. They paid people using the new rates, but the numbers still didn’t make sense. Even with the new rates their calculations were still wrong and all over the place. More complaints followed, but it felt like talking to a brick wall. The admins did what they liked and paid no attention to what we were saying. And when one person started to express his anger, he was removed from the group. I have to admit that was hysterical.
Payment stopped at 1:56pm with over 10 clippers yet to be paid. When we noticed, the people left unpaid were people with some of the highest views. It felt like something else was coming. 5 hours later, it was now 7pm and we were still expecting payment with no word from the admins on why we all hadn’t been paid. When I asked what was going on, the admin said “you will receive payment” but added nothing else. No timeline, no apology. It felt like we were begging for money we worked for. Their silence became insulting. Then the admin said the exact same thing the next day. Still no timeline.
Then Sunday came. 9th of August and Steven finally dropped a message on the group. After 9 whole days. He really took his sweet time. He apologized for the delay in communication and said he would address everything later that day. We waited to hear from Steven himself. Maybe he would say something meaningful for the first time since the payment issue started.
He eventually came to apologize about the back and forth and then went on to say absolutely nothing new. Nothing. Oh, wait. He did mention something new. The rates were reducing even more. Makes SO MUCH sense. The payment rates became $0.1 per 1000 views for TikTok, Facebook and Snapchat. $0.2 for Instagram, YouTube Shorts and X/Threads. And a WONDERFUL 50k Naira bonus for anyone who posts 20 eligible clips (instead of the 15 clips they had said). He further insulted us by showing us his YouTube Shorts RPM, telling us that the program wouldn’t be sustainable if he paid the $1 rate. And whose FREAKING business is that? Why did he start what he couldn’t finish?
The funniest thing mentioned was that the remaining clippers would be paid using the new $0.1 rate, and the payout for the remaining clippers was further extended. People kept asking questions, but Steven stopped responding. Then finally on the 10th of August by 5:28pm, I was finally paid $105 for ~1.7 million views generated. How lovely. AND, they didn’t even stick to their own rules. They didn’t add the 50k Naira bonus to the payments. The numbers didn’t make any sense. It wasn’t like anything made any sense with these people.
I spoke with a lawyer and she said she’s not sure I can call this an outright scam. She said it’s more of a breach of contract. However, I think it’s a scam. I think this was premeditated. Why? Because they saw all the results we were getting throughout the month. Millions of views being generated. Sharing links on how to go viral as a clipper. They knew how much they would have to payout. But no one ever said anything. Not Steven and not the admins Ojiugo and Samuel. They all waited until the end of the month before stabbing us in the back and insulting us. Essentially telling us we were going to be paid peanuts and we would be grateful for the privilege.
So what do you think?
Was this a scam or not?
