San Francisco, Dec 23 (IANS): Several creators on Instagram have been duped by a skincare company called SkinGlo which promised them $500 for providing content for its Instagram feed, but left them with a $48 face scrubber, that too the creators had to buy from the company itself, the media reported on Wdnesday.

According to a report in The Verge, the scam could have been worse.

"The women also lost hours of their time shooting and editing photos, as well as money and pride," the report said.

Neither Instagram nor SkinGlo commented on the report.

The scam unfolded like this.

SkinGlo emailed the creators, looking for content to fill its Instagram feed. Its Instagram page has over 12,000 followers.

"In exchange for five photos of them using SkinGlo's electric face scrubber - even photos taken just from their phones - they'd receive about $525. They could even watermark the images and only send over a clean file once they got paid," the report mentioned.

There was one catch, though.

"The women would have to buy the company's face scrubber themselves, with a 50 percent off discount code, bringing to total to about $48."

After taking and sending photos, none of the women heard from The SkinGlo again.

"Nothing's been posted to its account since October, and all comments are disabled," The Verge reported.

The company also sent over a link to a webpage that detailed "partnership terms and conditions" and emailed a contract that didn't have to be signed.

"The company told the women that buying the product and letting the team know was equivalent to signing."

Multiple women have posted about the scam on their accounts. There are nearly 20 reports on Trustpilot, a website that collects user reviews.