Almost certainly not: a stranger who cold-DMs you on Instagram or Snapchat offering to be your sugar daddy is following a scam script, and the offer usually ends with a request for a fee, gift cards, your login details, or money sent back from a fake payment.

Real arrangements can start in many ways, but an unsolicited DM promising an allowance to someone the sender has never spoken to is the classic opening of the sugar daddy scam. The Better Business Bureau's January 2025 alert says these scams begin with a message on a dating or social media app from someone offering to be your sugar daddy or sugar momma. (BBB)

The short answer

Don't reply with personal details, don't click links, and don't send anything. Report the account and block it. Snapchat's own safety advice is to only add or accept friend requests from people you know in real life, and never to share one-time passcodes or login links with anyone. (Snapchat Support) Instagram's help center lists romance scams among the common scams on the platform and tells users to report suspicious messages. (Instagram Help)

How the scam works

  1. The cold DM. You get a follow, a comment or a message saying the sender is looking for a sugar baby, or a straight offer of a weekly allowance. The account is often new, has few posts, or uses photos of a model.
  2. The pitch. A large, specific allowance for very little in return. No meeting, no video call, just chat.
  3. The move off-platform. You are asked to continue on another app or by text. The FBI's 2025 Internet Crime Report describes the same move in investment scams, where criminals make first contact on social media or dating apps "and then quickly move the conversation to a messaging platform." (IC3 2025 report)
  4. The money trick. It ends in one of three ways: a fee or gift card to "release" your allowance, a check or payment-app transfer that you must partly send back, or a request for your bank login or app PIN. The first two are covered in detail in our page on the Cash App sugar daddy scam.
  5. The sextortion turn. Some chats turn sexual and the scammer asks for photos. The IC3 says sextortion can start when someone offers something of value, and it received more than 75,000 sextortion submissions in 2025. (IC3 2025 report)

The scale of fake accounts is large. Meta said in March 2026 that in 2025 it removed 10.9 million Facebook and Instagram accounts associated with criminal scam centers and more than 159 million scam ads, and took down more than 15,000 assets that used fake personas of women seeking relationships with older men. (Meta) The IC3 recorded 23,159 confidence/romance fraud complaints in 2025 with $929,287,469 in reported losses, up from 17,910 complaints and $672,009,052 in 2024. (IC3 2025 report, IC3 2024 report)

Red flags

  • You didn't contact them. A stranger picked you out of a follower list, a hashtag or a comment section.
  • The allowance comes first, before any conversation about who you are or a meeting.
  • The account is thin: recently created, few posts, few real interactions, or photos that look like a model's portfolio.
  • The photos turn up elsewhere under a different name in a reverse image search. The FTC recommends this check. (FTC) If nothing comes up, read what a reverse image search with no match means.
  • They want to move to another app right away.
  • They won't do a live video call.
  • Money has to move from you: a fee, a "loyalty" payment, gift cards, crypto, or part of a deposit sent back.
  • They ask for codes, logins or your PIN. Cash App says its staff will never ask for your sign-in code or PIN, and the FTC says anyone who asks for an account verification code is a scammer. (Cash App, FTC)
  • Someone claims to be platform support and messages you about your "payment". Snapchat says its employees will never contact you via Snap or Chat to assist you. (Snapchat Support)

What a real arrangement looks like instead

People who want a real arrangement usually go where both sides are looking for one: dating sites built for it, with profiles, filters and some verification. They introduce themselves, talk for a while, agree to a video call, and meet in a public place before money is discussed. And money only flows from them to you. A good place to start comparing those sites is our list of the best sugar dating sites. If the DM came from someone posing as a sugar momma, the same checks apply; see sugar momma scams on Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat.

If you already sent money

First, protect your accounts and report the profile.

On Snapchat (Snapchat Support):

  1. To report the account, open the Chat screen, press and hold the person's name, tap Manage Friendship, then tap Report.
  2. To report a single message, press and hold it and tap Report.
  3. To block, press and hold their name on the Chat screen, tap Manage Friendship, then tap Block. Once blocked, they can't send you Snaps or Chats. (Snapchat Support)

On Instagram (Instagram Help):

  1. Go to the scammer's profile, tap the three dots in the top right, and tap Report.
  2. Then block the account from its profile so it can no longer contact you.

Then deal with the money:

  1. Stop sending. No further payment will release the promised allowance.
  2. Contact your bank or payment app right away and ask whether the payment can be stopped or reversed. (FTC) In Cash App, go to the Activity tab, select the payment and choose Report an issue. (Cash App)
  3. If you shared a login, code or PIN, change your passwords, starting with your email, and turn on two-step verification.
  4. Report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and the FBI at ic3.gov.
  5. Keep evidence: screenshots of the profile, the username, the chat and every payment, taken before you block.

FAQ

Do real sugar daddies ever DM people on Instagram?

Some people may, but a cold DM offering money is the standard opening of the scam. Treat it as one unless the person passes a live video call and never asks you to pay anything.

They have a verified badge or lots of followers. Does that make them real?

Not on its own. Accounts can be hacked, and Snapchat and Instagram both treat impersonation as a rules violation, which means it happens. Look at what they ask you to do. Any request for money, codes or logins settles it.

Should I reply to find out if it's real?

You don't need to. Replying confirms your account is active and invites more pressure. Report and block instead.

What if they threaten to share photos I sent?

Stop replying, don't pay, keep the evidence, and report the account on the platform and to the FBI at ic3.gov.

Sources

Checked October 8, 2026.