Crypto Scammers have popped up in Facebook ads by faking themselves as the world’s tech tycoons and giant business executives such as Metaverse’ Mark Zuckerburg, Tesla’s Elon Musk, and Amazone’s Jeff Bezos, to make people put down their money in crypto scams.
Today, social media platforms have become the favorite place to target victims in crypto scams. In light of a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report, crypto scams on social networks skyrocketed 12% in 2021 compared to its previous year’s figure.
Related Reading | Crypto Scam Steals $400K In Seven Hours. Is YouTube Complicit?
It proves not only has the crypto-space enlarged its boundary, but fraudsters have also ramped up their efforts. This time, they are deceiving people via Facebook ads by pretending to be influential executives like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Zuckerberg.
To be more specific, FTC’s latest consumer protection report reveals that crypto scams have mainly increased on Facebook and Instagram.
Furthermore, it noted that investments schemes have been the most used tragedy and stole a hefty amount of funds in online scams. On the other hand, online shopping scams have still surpassed social networks’ crimes.
The report specifies that crypto crime rose more than 12% in 2021 than its previous year, 2020. Similarly, the money losses have increased by 1,000%.
Crypto-related scams have also become the most significant investment fraud in this age, widely being promoted on social networks.
Crypto Scams Using Giant Companies
In its strive to become Metaverse from Facebook, the founder Zuckerberg ran an ad on FB at the start of the month promoting its web 3.0 strategy.
But before it starts the presale in Metaverse, users have found unexpected ads on Facebook offering investment, tied with Metaverse fake FB pages, per the Mashable.
The advertisement sells Metaverse’s upcoming token “Meta,” saying “the thrilling digital future has arrived.”
Also, one of the ads is linked to an external website that uses Zuckerberg’s photos and Metavers’ logo and even features the company’s Chief executives like Sheryl Sandberg.
The website offers the presale of Meta starting from 22 Feb, allowing a minimum purchase of $200. In addition, it permitted payments in Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Similarly, other scam ads featured investments in Tesla and SpaceX. These advertisements also used photos of the founder and CEO, Elon Musk, and promoted investment in Tesla’s token, which does not even exist.
Related Reading | Why The IRS Sees “Mountains Of Fraud” In Crypto And NFTs
The international news website, Mashable, adds that there was also an ad providing FB users an opportunity to invest in Walmart’s crypto token.
Another ad used Amazone and its founder Bezos’s photos and logos to pretend itself genuine and promoted the sale of fake Amazone tokens.
Scams beyond Facebook are not new. For example, in 2018, many fake Mark Zuckerbergs ran a lottery scheme requiring people to send them money after winning to receive the reward amount. As a result, many media personalities filed cases against Facebook for promoting scams on its platform that uses their photos.
Featured image from Pixabay and chart from TradingView.com