‘Everyone Knows the Name’

Some students who believe they will never recoup their money are still running I’m Shmacked accounts. Not long after Bradley Gasparovich, the 21-year-old administrator of @ImShmacked_MSU (Michigan State University), paid Mr. Toufanian $300 to be a college ambassador, Mr. Toufanian unfollowed him and blocked all communication.

Mr. Gasparovich was frustrated, feeling he had been taken advantage of, but decided to keep the handle active. He is interested in marketing and had amassed more than 7,000 followers, so now he is just posting for fun. “I keep it because everyone knows the name,” he said.

He also uses the account to warn other students. In September, after I’m Shmacked put out a new call for college ambassadors on Instagram Stories, Mr. Gasparovich got messages from students who wanted to know how much money he was making, before they signed up for the program themselves.

“Arya told them they will generate revenue right away,” Mr. Gasparovich said. “I said no! I did this last year, just don’t do it.”

Dakota Verrico, an 18-year-old freshman at Rutgers, in New Jersey, almost fell for it. After Mr. Verrico responded to the call-out, he was told that in order to learn more about the “business opportunity,” he would have to pay $500.

Mr. Toufanian told him that he could “make up to $10,000 to $30,000 a month,” Mr. Verrico said. “I kept asking him, how would I make money from this? How does this work?” (Mr. Verrico said that Mr. Toufanian ultimately left him a voice memo that explained that money was made through charging women to be featured on the I’m Shmacked Instagram accounts in addition to other methods.)