Teen Fakes Being Rich On Instagram And Is Shocked By How Easy It Is

In a world where social media dominates our lives, we are given ever greater insight into the lives of complete strangers. They often seem infinitely more interesting than our own - whether those strangers are partying on yachts in the Bahamas or taking a private jet to the Maldives.

But is everything always as it seems? One YouTuber set out to fake life as a millionaire 'influencer' and says he was shocked by the result, claiming it was much easier than expected.

Earlier this year Londoner Byron Denton, who runs the channel tbhbyron, spent a week editing and posting outlandish photographs to his Instagram account, including one of him relaxing on his own private jet - which received 1,000 likes in just seven seconds.

Other photos he posted showed him appearing to wear 'designer' clothes, when in fact he had photoshopped logos from high end brands like Balenciaga and Off-White onto plain t-shirts.

Top fibbing.

Speaking about the experiment in a video posted to his channel, Byron explained exactly how he used apps such as FaceTune and PicsArt, as well as Adobe Photoshop Lightroom to apply the finishing touches to his photos in a bid to trick his followers into believing he had suddenly come into some cash.

And fooled they were, as the 19-year-old went on to say that everyone seemed to believe him, with his posts receiving thousands of likes and comments, fawning over his outfits.

He said: "I did this to try and compare whether wearing designer items would actually encourage people to like your photos or not, so if we go back to a photo I posted on 1 December, wearing a semi-cute outfit, kinda basic but still kinda cute, this actually ended up getting 2,234 likes, 44 comments and 113 profile visits.

"But in comparison to me wearing a designer top or designer shoes, the likes I got on those photos even though it's still an outfit of a day though, just of me wearing a certain outfit, just doesn't contain any designer, to then be pulling 12,000 likes, so that's like 10,000 more people clicking the like button of me wearing designer, just because I'm wearing designer."

Though most people know how fickle and shallow the world of social media can be, sometimes it can be easy to get sucked in.

If anything, this serves as a reminder to take 'influencers' with a pinch of salt.

Featured Image Credit: Instagram/YouTube

Topics: Instagram, UK News, Funny, Interesting

Dominic Smithers

Dominic graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History. Like you, Dom has often questioned how much use a second language has been. Well, after stints working at the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express, along with never setting foot in France, he realised the answer is surprisingly little. But I guess, c'est la vie. Contact us at [email protected]

@SmithersDom