Nikon has issued a warning to consumers and creators regarding a scam going around wherein people pretending to be Nikon representatives are contacting YouTube and Facebook channel owners and ‘requesting that the recipient produce a video using a Nikon camera or offer sponsorship opportunities.’

Nikon suggests not all of these scams are done using only Nikon’s name, but notes the ‘fraudulent correspondence generally carry Nikon’s name, and / or refer to the Nikon public relations department.’ Nikon says ‘In light of the increasing frequency of these incidents, Nikon would like to raise awareness of the fact that third parties, representing themselves as Nikon, may attempt to gain personal or financial information and exploit it for financial gain.’

Nikon says official emails for existing or future collaborations will come from an official Nikon company email address that ends in ‘@nikon.com,’ so be sure to double-check the sender’s email if you receive any such correspondence. To help, Nikon has provided the following list of signs you can look for to determine if the emails are legitimate or fraudulent:

Signs they are legitimate

  • The website is secured by looking at the address bar (URL) to see if there is an “s” in the URL – it should look like this “https://” at the start – or if it has a lock symbol in the address bar
  • The presence of contact details or official distributor details
  • The presence of a privacy policy – such as a request to accept cookies / details of how your data is used
  • Details of their work with the Nikon – a logo or a case study

Signs that suggest they are fraudulent

  • The absence of any of the above
  • Poor spelling and grammar (including in the domain name)
  • Broken links (or no additional links) to other pages on the site

If you receive such an email and are still unsure, Nikon says to connect directly with your local Nikon public relations representative to verify the authenticity of the correspondence. Nikon also suggests connecting with Nikon through its verified social media channel profiles.