i got scammed for $1,000,000
Summary
TLDRIn this video, the creator recounts being defrauded of a million dollars through an insurance scam. They explain how they purchased media insurance to protect against defamation lawsuits, a common risk in their line of original reporting. However, when faced with a lawsuit from Logan Paul, they discovered their new policy had an exclusion clause for defamation, rendering their insurance useless. Despite paying significant premiums, they were left to fend for themselves, leading to a frustrating and costly ordeal. The creator now faces the dilemma of potentially suing their own insurance company, while also resorting to selling merchandise to recoup losses.
Takeaways
- π± The video creator was scammed for a million dollars due to a misunderstanding with their insurance policy regarding defamation lawsuits.
- πΊ The creator had media insurance, specifically for defamation, as a precaution for reporting on wealthy individuals who might sue for defamation.
- π‘ The idea to get insurance came from another YouTuber's experience with a lawsuit, emphasizing the importance of being prepared for legal battles.
- π The insurance premium increased over time as the channel grew and was perceived as a higher risk by the insurance company.
- π The insurance policy had a fine print exclusion for defamation claims, which was not noticed until the creator tried to file a claim.
- π€ The creator questioned the roles of the insurance broker and underwriter in not highlighting the exclusion and whether they should have read the entire policy themselves.
- πΈ The creator paid tens of thousands of dollars for insurance that ultimately did not cover the specific risk they were concerned about.
- π« The policy also had an exclusion for digital assets, which is a significant part of the creator's content.
- π€ The insurance broker admitted they were unaware of the policy's exclusions and that the underwriter may not have read through every line of the policy.
- π The situation has led the creator to seek legal advice, potentially against the insurance company that was supposed to provide coverage.
- π As a result of the financial setback, the creator is now selling merchandise, such as shirts, to help recoup the losses.
Q & A
What type of insurance did the speaker initially have to protect against lawsuits?
-The speaker initially had media insurance or errors and omissions insurance to protect against defamation lawsuits.
Why did the speaker believe they were covered for defamation claims?
-The speaker believed they were covered for defamation claims because they had been covered by the same type of insurance in the past and had successfully used it to defend against such lawsuits.
What happened when the speaker contacted their insurance company to file a claim for the Logan Paul lawsuit?
-When the speaker contacted their insurance company to file a claim, the company refused to pay, citing an exclusion in the new policy that excluded defamation claims.
What was the speaker's reaction to the insurance company's refusal to cover the defamation claim?
-The speaker was confused and shocked, as they had specifically purchased the insurance to cover defamation claims, which they considered to be a part of errors and omissions in media.
How much did the speaker estimate they had paid in premiums for the insurance over its lifetime?
-The speaker estimated they had paid tens of thousands of dollars in premiums for the insurance over its lifetime.
What was the initial reason the speaker decided to get errors and omissions insurance?
-The initial reason the speaker decided to get errors and omissions insurance was advice from another YouTuber who had been in a lawsuit, emphasizing the need for protection against such legal actions.
How did the speaker's channel size affect the cost of their insurance?
-As the speaker's channel grew larger, the cost of their insurance increased significantly because the insurance company considered them a higher risk due to the increased visibility and potential for more viewers.
Why did the insurance company not renew the speaker's policy initially?
-The insurance company did not renew the speaker's policy initially because they felt the speaker had become a risk after using the insurance and they wanted to charge more for it.
What exclusions were found in the new insurance policy that the speaker signed?
-The new insurance policy had exclusions for defamation claims and coverage related to digital assets, which were the main topics of the speaker's content.
What actions did the speaker take after realizing the insurance policy did not cover what they expected?
-The speaker started talking to lawyers to explore their options against the insurance company and the broker, as well as selling shirts to help cover the costs of the lawsuit.
What was the speaker's final stance on the situation after some time had passed?
-After some time had passed, the speaker was able to appreciate the irony of the situation but admitted that they were initially very angry and unhappy about it.
Outlines
π Scammed by Insurance: The Unexpected Policy Exclusion
The narrator recounts a frustrating experience of being defrauded by their insurance company. Despite having media insurance to cover defamation lawsuits, which is crucial for media companies reporting on wealthy individuals, they found out that their policy had an exclusion for defamation claims. This was discovered when they tried to file a claim after being sued by Logan Paul. The narrator explains how they had previously used their insurance to cover defamation and had paid thousands of dollars annually, only to be denied coverage when they needed it most. The betrayal by the insurance company and the realization that they were essentially paying for an ineffective policy led to a sense of being scammed for the amount they had invested in the insurance.
π The Rising Costs and Hidden Exclusions of Media Insurance
This paragraph delves into the financial implications and the complexities of maintaining media insurance. The narrator describes how the cost of their insurance increased significantly after they had to use it, akin to car insurance rates going up after an accident. They express discontent with the fact that despite not being at fault in their claims, the insurance premiums still soared. As their channel grew in popularity, so did the perceived risk, leading to higher insurance costs. The narrator also recounts the process of finding new insurance when their previous insurer decided not to renew their policy. They eventually signed up with a new insurer through their broker, only to later discover that the new policy had exclusions that rendered it useless for their needs, specifically for defamation and digital assets, which are central to their content.
π€― The Fallout: Confronting Insurance and Broker Missteps
In the final paragraph, the narrator discusses the aftermath of discovering the policy's exclusions. They are now in a predicament where they must consider legal action against the insurance company that failed to provide the coverage they paid for. The broker, who was supposed to secure appropriate insurance, admits to not being aware of the exclusions in the policy. The underwriter also seems to be in the dark about these exclusions, leading to a finger-pointing situation between the two parties. The narrator speculates that this might not be an isolated incident and that other policyholders could be in the same boat, unaware of the limitations of their insurance. The paragraph ends with the narrator resorting to selling merchandise to offset the financial setback, inviting viewers to support them by purchasing a shirt, and expressing a desire to hear similar stories from the audience.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Scammed
π‘Media Insurance
π‘Defamation
π‘Errors and Omissions Insurance
π‘Policy Exclusions
π‘Insurance Broker
π‘Cease and Desist Letter
π‘Frivolous Lawsuit
π‘Digital Assets
π‘Fine Print
π‘GoFundMe
Highlights
The narrator got scammed for a million dollars due to a lawsuit against Logan Paul.
Media insurance or errors and omissions insurance is essential for media companies to protect against defamation lawsuits.
The narrator had to defend against a frivolous lawsuit, which is expensive and why insurance is crucial.
The narrator had been paying for defamation insurance but found out it was excluded in the new policy's fine print.
Errors and omissions in media are synonymous with defamation, which was confusingly not covered by the insurance.
The narrator had previously successfully used defamation insurance to cover themselves.
The insurance company denied the claim based on an exclusion in the policy that was not initially noticed.
The narrator had paid tens of thousands of dollars for insurance that ultimately did not provide coverage.
A YouTuber's advice led the narrator to seek errors and omissions insurance to protect against potential lawsuits.
The insurance became significantly more expensive as the channel grew and was used, indicating increased risk.
The insurance company decided not to renew the policy, forcing the narrator to find a new one.
A new insurance policy was found at 40% more cost, with exclusions that were not noticed until later.
The policy excluded coverage for defamation and digital assets, which are central to the narrator's content.
The insurance broker and company were unaware of the exclusions, pointing to a lack of communication.
The narrator is now in a position of having to potentially take legal action against the insurance company.
The situation has led to the narrator selling merchandise, like shirts, to offset the financial impact.
The narrator reflects on the irony and frustration of the situation, seeking support and sharing the story.
Transcripts
I got scammed for a million dollars and
here's my story you may have seen the
video on my main Channel where I talk
about how we should have been covered up
to a million dollars for this lawsuit
against Logan Paul because we have
what's called media insurance or errors
and omissions insurance the reason I got
this the reason most media companies get
this is because of defamation lawsuits
especially if you're going to do
original reporting on very rich people
and accuse them of things like scamming
you know people don't take too kindly to
that and many times they will threaten
to frivolously sue you uh sometimes they
even will sue you and you have to be
prepared to defend yourself it's very
expensive and so you want some way to do
that so you can get insured for that you
can get insured for defamation and we've
actually used the same type of
defamation Insurance uh or aors and
omissions insurance to cover ourselves
before and successfully done that this
time we thought it would be no different
so when we got sued uh I saw a lot of
great like support from people saying
look I want to help I want to help you
kind of like you know you should do it
GoFundMe or whatever and I said to
myself well look I don't want to do that
because I don't need it and many
commenters knew that I had insurance and
they said hey he doesn't need it don't
worry he's got this s's no missions
insurance I was like yeah you're right
you know that's true uh except then I
called my insurance company to put in a
claim I'm like yo knock knock we've been
paying you thousands of a year why not
uh time for you to pay up and they
promptly called back they're like uh
actually no no we're not going to do
that because in the fine print of our
policy your new policy we've excluded
ourselves from defamation claims so I
was confused I was like wait but I the
whole reason I got this was defamation
and they're like yeah and I'm like well
what does this cover if not defamation
they're like well errors and omissions
and I'm
thinking what you C what do you call
errors and omissions in media you call
it defamation I mean if if if CNN goes
on and they make an error about some
random person that person's not going to
sue them for the error they're going to
sue them for
defamation um so I was confus I was like
wildly confused I go to my policy I'm
like shocked to find yeah okay sure
enough yep you guys are excluded from
defamation and I'm like how did this
happen so that requir the full so that's
the
tldr um scammed for a million bucks I if
they had paid out the whole claim right
like that's obviously a big part of this
uh ultimately we paid like I think
during the lifetime of this insurance we
probably paid like a few tens of
thousands of dollars to this insurance
so it hasn't been cheap to pay for
insurance that ultimately did nothing so
we at minimum got scammed for that
amount if you actually look at the total
policy um we had it was up to $1 million
so I don't think it's a stretch to say
we got scammed for a million bucks but
um the full story I think is even more
interesting
so initially we had gotten a message
from um another YouTuber who had just
been in a lawsuit this is how we started
getting into this whole thing and they
told us look dude I just paid a quarter
of a million we were small at this time
he goes I we I just got paid a quarter
of a million dollars to fight this
lawsuit I'm in the right it's totally
frivolous this guy knows it you need to
make sure you get this thing called
errors and omissions insurance so you
can be protected like I wasn't so um we
were a small Channel and relatively the
insurance was going to be very expensive
for us but I appreciated that and I
thought you know that's really wise if
this channel continues in a certain
direction in the type of content that I
want to produce we need to have this so
we found a broker who kind of advertised
himself as like look every YouTuber
needs defamation insurance
um if they're going to be publicly
talking about news about like different
topics so we get a hold of this guy and
we say hey we want that so he goes great
so he shops us around some insurance and
we pretty immediately find some carriers
who willing to take us because at the
time our channel is much low uh smaller
and I would just say it's like less
risky so to speak because the smaller
you are the less people are going to see
it I it's just not as big of a risk so
we get we get covered and in 2019 or
2020 we get our a seasoned assist letter
from Dan lock okay I'm just trying to
remember the year I'm not so clear about
the years but I just remember we got a
season assist from Dan lock it was one
of our first and the guy shot up at our
house really freaked us out he's like
hey are you blah blah blah I'm like yes
he's like ah you know not you've been
served but like here this is you know
aha we got you so I'm reading the ceas
and assist letter it's very like Angry
you know lawyers use that language like
you have to respond like da da da we're
going to take very you know heavy legal
action against you so we were freaked
out so I called my uh insurance and I
was like R ring hey we're getting a
season assist for defamation can you
help they're like yep we cover that
that's the whole point of the stuff
that's why you got it so we're going to
uh get you a lawyer so we got a lawyer
we fought the cease and assist It
ultimately turned into nothing in fact
most cease and assist letters turn into
nothing but we were relieved we were
like okay great this stuff works it's
very glad we have it so we go the next
year and it gets more expensive
significantly more expensive this type
of insurance because as you use it
they're like well you're a risk now now
that you've used the thing you paid for
we have to charge you a lot more for it
it's maybe like getting into an accident
with like car insurance uh but what I
find a little unfair about this is we
did nothing wrong like we didn't do
anything in fact our claims I think were
fair and I don't think they were
defamatory at at all uh but either way
the price goes up we're happy to pay
we're like sure we don't care as the
years go our Channel starts getting
bigger and the channel from an insurers
point of view gets more risky right
they're like you're bigger you get more
views therefore uh more eyeballs see it
you need to pay more money always happy
to do that fine whatever at one point
the insurance company we had been using
says okay you know what we actually
don't want to do this anymore for
whatever reason you're not being renewed
this year so we go to our insurance
broker and we're like okay what do we do
he's like well I can shop you around a
bunch of more policies what do you want
and we're like well we just want similar
coverage he goes great so he goes around
they work with a bunch of people and
they're like looking for a while we can
start getting nervous we start getting
close to the deadline of when we have to
renew and because it's kind of a big
deal you don't want to lapse your
coverage because then you say something
it's not covered whatever so uh finally
we're getting down to the wire he's like
look you know I do have this one one
insurance company we can go to I don't
know kind of like eh we can go to them
so we're like yeah dude well anything
finally he comes back he goes great news
they're going to do it and we're like oh
awesome is it more expensive he's like
yeah it's like like 40% more expensive
we're like we don't care that's fine
we'll pay it so he goes great uh sign
this whatever and we're good so we sign
it and we're like great little did I
know these guys had put um a special
exclusion two exclusions actually that
are relevant uh the biggest one in this
policy was on page like 31 and it said
you know we are excluded from covering
it's all these things they won't cover
um they're like we won't cover
defamation now that's the only reason
we're buying the
insurance but we don't see it now
there's a lot of like whose fault is
this is this the fault of the
underwriter for not flagging it is it
the fault of our broker for not telling
us cuz he's the expert is it our fault
for not reading the whole all 50
something pages of the contract we're
not Insurance experts but should we have
Reddit should we have hired a lawyer
right I'm not going to get into all of
that in this video the point is there is
this
um there's this exception in the fine
print that we never hear about and
there's also an exception from what they
call like digital assets like it's like
they're excluded from covering it if
it's about digital Assets Now if you
seen my
content all the videos are well not all
of them but a a a a lot of videos are
about some type of digital asset so it's
like they wrote a policy charges 40%
more and then every single part of the
policy is like just drawing a box where
it's like we won't cover anything that
this channel talks about um so so anyway
I mean I guess that's good business for
them if they can get people to like sign
it and it was it was sent to us like by
our broker they're like they're like
yeah this is the only guy that'll cover
you here's the only thing you can get
we're like okay great so we pay for this
for like two or three years I I forgot
the exact um I have to pull up the exact
emails of like when we first signed with
these guys but um we pay like tens of
thousands of dollars for this
insurance that does not cover
us after so now the whole Logan Paul
stuff happens we call our broker they
say no no no no uh call our broker they
file with the insurance company the
insurance company says no we're not
going to do that the broker starts
freaking out it's the first time they've
heard of this they had no idea this is
all in writing too like it's actually
crazy what they put in writing they're
like yeah we had no idea that this was
this was part of the thing we didn't
know
so um yeah that's the that's the full
story of what happened I mean it's kind
of tough because by the letter of the
policy it's kind of like did the insurer
do anything I mean they just offered us
a deal and we took it so it's more like
okay well the broker anyway we're
talking to like people cuz we're like
dude how can we pay tens of thousands of
dollars for insurance that doesn't
insure the thing we paid a broker to
find us it's like paying a broker to
find you car insurance and then they
like sell you like car insurance that
excludes any type of accident that
includes something with four wheels like
that that's literally what this is like
but now we're in this crazy position
where where we're having to like talk to
lawyers about if we need to like lawyer
up versus the insurance company that's
supposed to be paying for our lawyers in
the other CA like it's so stupid we're
now having to be like wait no I think
you scammed us I um also to the broker
like we're in this ridiculous situation
where we should have had Insurance to
protect us if our insurance didn't pay
up because now we got to talk to all
these other lawyers too um yeah
it's so frustrating and by the way not
only are we now having to look at all
our options for what to do about all
this um I have to read you this dude the
broker not only admitted he didn't know
what was in the policy he put in writing
that the underwriter didn't know what
was in the policy so he says the quote
an email from blank never mentioned that
this exclusion was being uh removed it's
not common for agencies or Underwriters
to read through every line and exclusion
of every policy we received so while we
could have checked the policy to see
that defamation was excluded some fault
lies with the carrier for not disclosing
this to us when it was
quoted what so they're just pointing
fingers at each other but the person
actually affected is us
so um and then and then they also say
they not only didn't know what was in my
policy they have apparently sold may
have sold this policy to other people uh
in another email they say it looks like
it's going to have to go up the ladder
at the insurance company to find out why
this wasn't disclosed to us earlier uh
that this exclusion was in there I've
been told by the underwriter that this
has his full attention I think he might
be really concerned because they have a
few other accounts with this insurance
company and if this exclusion is on all
of them then it's going to represent a
larger problem for their business so
this may have been sent to tons of
people who think that defamation is
excluded for them as well H and it like
actually isn't I just think it this is
so crazy to me that we're um in this
situation but you know uh we are and
ultimately now we're selling shirts I
mean that's how we got here that's how
we got selling this very cool very nice
shirt that you should definitely buy uh
because I haven't even calculated how
many shirts I need to sell to make up
for this but it's a lot okay so if you
could help out that would be very
appreciated pre-order is for 14 days I
believe we got this shirt we got a lot
more you can go check it on the website
coffeezilla store but either way that is
the story of how I got scammed
yes me coffeezilla got scammed for a
million bucks we got Dylan danis we got
fine printed whatever you want to call
it tough man tough let me know if you
have a similar story in the comments
below because a lot of people I've
talked to actually are like yeah I've
had the same experience with insurance
not media insurance but they're like
yeah I had paid for insurance that
ultimately I guess that's their job is
to not pay like they they don't
obviously they don't make money from
paying out a million dollars on a policy
that they maybe got paid like 30k for so
they make money from not paying out
claims uh so I'm interested if you guys
have stories below of times where you
had something similar happen in your
life I want to know about it either way
thanks for watching you can appreciate a
little um uh pain at my
expense I I I'm laughing because we've
I've had a little bit of time to process
this it's almost been a full month now
so sitting with this oh actually a
little over a month so I can appreciate
the irony of the situation but when it
first happened let me tell you I was not
happy I was sending some very angry
emails I was like and yeah that's
basically it uh don't forget go get
yourself a shirt you know thank you
coffeezilla I'm suing I really really
got to sell shirts
now all right goodbye
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