I’ve noticed a concerning trend in my Facebook feed over the last few months. Individuals I know in real life are marketing a range of questionable “investment” opportunities, citing “proof” of their huge profits. Though it should go without saying, please don’t fall for this!
Facebook Accounts Are Getting Hacked
Because these attacks are so constant, even tech-savvy individuals might fall victim to Facebook account hacking, which is a dangerous problem. While the hacker just needs to be lucky once, you need to be lucky all the time. This indicates, at the very least, that you should always view everything your friends write on Facebook with suspicion. Above all, if you can reach out to someone via a different route than Facebook, make sure you verify any information they share there. Before taking any action, phone them or someone who resides with them to double-check the information.
Criminals Know You Trust Your Friends More Than Strangers
Hackers value Facebook accounts for a number of reasons. First, it gets simpler to hack additional accounts if they are successful in taking down one. Typically, a hijacked account will notify other users on the network about a link that is contaminated with malware. Because the link appears to be from someone they know, individuals click on it without thinking. Then the same method of network infection spreads to them, and so on.
Since the original account owner is no longer able to access it, the hackers are free to write anything they want, including requests for people to make “investments” and encouragement. There is an almost limitless range of financial scams in reality. There are pyramid schemes that demand upfront payments using cryptocurrencies, traditional pyramid schemes, and advance fee scams. “Binary options” is essentially a gambling scam. These scams have really nasty effects on my friends and family who have fallen for them.
A common scam that I am currently seeing involves foreign exchange brokers offering significant returns on investment but at a certain level of risk. These are legitimate businesses that deal in currencies; yet, their “clients” are not the main reason for their existence. They can hide behind the practice’s inherent risk if they lose all of their money, as they obtain their revenue from the fees they charge.
The way individuals are pushing these schemes on Facebook is alarming. They share images of their bank accounts, upload videos of themselves praising others, and motivate others to join in. Since they are not labeled as sponsored promotions, it is possible that these accounts have been hacked or that they have been paid to promote dangerous schemes in secret.
Bot-like comments from other hijacked accounts in their circles frequently inundate these postings, creating the appearance of a natural dialogue. It’s obviously fake, though, as we can see dozens of people writing the exact identical thing inside the same buddy circles.