On social media, people reveal a lot of personal information, and from communication, one can determine the type of interlocutor and their preferences. Scammers skillfully use this in social networks to find victims, studying people on social media, searching for targets that are financially beneficial to them.
Fraud on Social Media
The most popular method of fraud on social media is requests to borrow money. By hacking accounts, scammers start sending messages to the contacts of the hacked account asking for a loan with a transfer to a card. Some believe the messages and transfer money without verifying the information in person or by phone. Some realize from the messages that they have been contacted by another person and refuse help, after which they notify their friend about such messages.
Scammers also send notifications under the names of well-known companies or firms. The mailings contain information:
- about favorable conditions,
- about winning a lottery,
- about participating in a promotion.
But for each of them, some kind of money transfer is required to pay for some services, to gain access, a prize, or other payments.
Scammers actively use the scheme of finding a better half, creating fake accounts on behalf of a man or woman to meet the opposite sex. In the course of communication, they begin to extort money. This method is especially effective when, for example, an attractive girl asks for a sum for travel to meet a new acquaintance. Many men fall for such a scam and transfer money.
Phishing on Social Media
Phishing on social media is a long-known, proven method for scammers to attract people. Thus, they provide the user with fake links to counterfeit websites. Easily copying well-known brands and firms, scammers send the user links to a site to perform a financial transaction. For example, to participate in a promotion, but first, you need to pay an initial fee, get a discount on a product, or complete a social survey or questionnaire.
The most effective is phishing using aggressive advertising, offering a crazy discount with a limited validity period, so you should immediately go to the site link to get the discount. For this, scammers may introduce a function that requires registration, where it will be mandatory to:
- write down bank card details;
- make a prepayment;
- provide personal information.
Such sites are essentially aimed at this.
Having received the necessary information, scammers continue their illegal activities, constantly looking for new victims.
Fraud on Facebook
In the social network Facebook, job offers are very often encountered, most of which are fraudulent schemes. Scammers create:
- phishing messages with links;
- video files with happy job holders and high earnings;
- post reviews, allegedly from employees who have earned and continue to earn;
- offer high earnings or earning courses.
To participate in these processes, scammers offer to pay an initial fee for courses and fill out questionnaires that reveal personal data, thus searching for victims on social networks.
On Facebook pages, scammers study the victim, their comments, photos, list of acquaintances, which gives more insight into the victim.
Scrolling through Facebook social networks, you can also often find information asking for financial help or charitable collections. Under the guise of this, scammers create fake accounts and communities of charitable organizations and, on their behalf, start collecting aid:
- for disabled children;
- for large families;
- for seriously ill children or adults;
- for saving animals or shelters.
The imagination of scammers knows no bounds
Instagram Scam
And no less popular social network is Instagram, where spam messages about online stores appear most frequently. Some scammers can clone existing stores and create a fake link, supposedly to the store. Often scammers require full payment for goods before shipping, and naturally, the victim receives neither the goods nor the money.
Also, on Instagram, scammers communicate with the user, trying to become friends. They gain trust and offer to be added to the contact list, and over time, they start asking for money loans. Refusing is not always possible, as scammers are excellent psychologists and, having received what they expect, the scammers disappear, severing all contacts and ties. Over time, they look for a new victim by creating a new account.
No matter what schemes fraudsters use, it is always necessary to be vigilant on social networks, especially with new acquaintances.