The main sign
A team that earns from traffic doesn't take money from its buyers. Its income is a share of the ad profit. If you're asked to pay before you've earned anything, the company is making money from you, not with you.
Outrun Media never accepts money from buyers in any form: not for training, not "for access", not as collateral. It's written into our terms and our agreement.
Red flags
- "Make a deposit / insurance fee" — framed as a guarantee that you "won't burn the budget".
- "Top up your platform balance" — the dashboard shows growing "earnings", but you can only withdraw after one more top-up.
- Paid training with "guaranteed income" — nobody can guarantee income in advertising.
- Pressure — "spots are running out", "you have to decide today".
- No documents — no agreement, no legal entity, no settlement rules.
- Contacts keep changing — the "manager" changes, and payment details arrive in DMs from strangers.
7 questions before you start
- Who pays for ads during training?
- Do I need to transfer anything to the company — now or later?
- How is my share calculated and where do I see the breakdown?
- What is the hold period and when does the payout arrive?
- What happens if I end up in the red: will I owe anything?
- Is there an agreement, and can I read it before I start?
- Which contacts are official and how do you announce changes?
An honest team answers all seven at once and in writing. Vague answers to questions 2 and 5 are reason enough to walk away.
Check the contacts
Scammers often write on behalf of real companies. Our only official contacts are the Telegram bot @OutrunMedia_Bot and the manager @Outrun_Manager. We don't call and never ask for passwords, SMS codes or transfers. If someone does this in our name, message the manager.