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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- A global investment scam network is spreading via paid Meta ads.
- Fake media reports that play on financial hardship are used as a lure.
- Here’s what to look for to avoid losing your cash in a scam.
Everyone loves a bit of outrage, especially on live TV. Combine this with economic pressure, a cost-of-living crisis, and a convincing video or article using trusted media and news brands, and you have a recipe for a successful investment scam.
A global network, believed to be the work of Russian-speaking cybercriminals, is targeting at least 25 countries to relieve you of your savings. Even worse: It’s using the names of trusted outlets and individuals while spreading its scam content through paid channels to make it appear trustworthy and legitimate.
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A malvertising global network
This week, Bitdefender researchers published an analysis of more than 300 malvertising campaigns detected since February.
Malvertising — the practice of using fake ads and websites in scams — is nothing new. However, several noteworthy insights emerged from the report regarding how a sprawling, coordinated network is using sponsored and paid Meta advertising to reach new victims on every corner of the globe.
Bitdefender’s team says the cybercriminals — creating a “disinformation-for-profit network” — use the names of celebrities, journalists, politicians, business figures, and trusted news networks to promote fake narratives, ramp up engagement, and lure victims into joining investment scams. Common themes include live TV scandals, celebrity revelations, arguments between public figures and banking chiefs, and political confrontations.
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“Each narrative is localizable, reusable, and emotionally compelling — precisely what makes them effective on social platforms,” the researchers say.
The goal is to entice you to hand over your contact details, such as a phone number or email address, which can be used to persuade you to join an investment scheme.
Here’s how it works: You’re presented with an advertisement or sponsored post showing a scandal, a live TV broadcast gone wrong, a “deleted” interview, or similar content, much of which has a financial theme and an emotive or enticing hook to draw you in.
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The ad then points you to what appears to be a trusted domain, and in some cases, the preview link is set to a trusted website before you are redirected to a different web address.
You then read the fake news article or narrative, which includes a lure, such as the need to register to unlock access to more content or to “start earning.” There may also be fake comments on the article that claim the investment is legitimate.
From this point, with your contact details in their hand, you become a lead in a call-center-driven investment scam.
What does investment fraud look like?
If you suspect you’re being led toward or may have fallen prey to an investment scam, here are eight red flags you should watch for:
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- Act now: You will be pressured to act quickly for the “best returns,” which may include limited-time promotions or free cash.
- Account manager persistence: There may be constant calls, messages, or emails from “account managers” assigned to you, the client.
- More and more and more: If you’ve made a deposit, the pressure to hand over more cash will never end. “‘Account manager” communication, promotions, alerts, phone calls, app notifications — everything is designed to scam you out of as much money as possible.
- Demands and threats: You may receive thinly-disguised threats, such as a minimum deposit requirement. If you don’t submit and pay up, your account will be closed, and any existing funds will be confiscated.
- Claims of guaranteed returns: This is a common feature of investment scams, whether in cash or cryptocurrency. Victims are told that there is a guaranteed reward and return.
- Fake profits: In some cases, scam platforms or apps may show you fake investment data, dashboards, and metrics, with returns displayed to encourage you to invest more.
- Impossible withdrawals: While the first or second withdrawal may be allowed to instill trust in you, you’ll soon find that you no longer can withdraw your ‘investment.’
- Romance: Don’t think that investment scams are limited to only social media, fake news reports, or phishing websites. In recent years, even dating apps have been used to promote them. With this tactic, known as pig butchering, a scammer builds friendships or encourages romantic ties with their victims over a long period of time before springing their trap.
How are the scammers avoiding ad review controls?
The tactics used are as varied as the victims they are targeting.
Techniques include displaying trusted domain previews of news outlets before rerouting visitors; using credible names and brands, registering lookalike domains with only minor differences to legitimate news websites, and using rotating, low-grade Facebook pages to distribute fake content with minimal financial loss if they are reported and taken down.
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How to stay safe
This scam network demonstrates just how sophisticated financial fraud has become, and how little — it seems — that social networks care about vetting, monitoring, or cracking down on suspicious content.
As a result, it’s up to us to stay vigilant and avoid making impulse purchases or investment decisions based on social media content, especially when it prompts an emotional response, such as anger or worry.
These scams also often use emotive, clickbait language and claims, such as “watch this before it’s deleted!” or “[Celebrity] tried to silence this!”, using psychological tricks to make us feel a particular way — and, potentially, make a quick decision without stepping back or thinking rationally.
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It’s also important to note that live TV scandals and genuine breaking news stories are often reported by multiple media outlets quite quickly, and so unless the video you saw of a banking CEO touting a cryptocurrency coin or your least-favorite politician storming off set has been reported elsewhere, it’s probably fake. Furthermore, you can always visit a media outlet’s official website and search for stories yourself to verify what you’ve seen elsewhere.
In this campaign, the cybercriminals are using spoofed and lookalike domains. Therefore, if you are visiting a website via social media, you should be cautious of any site that looks unfamiliar or has something unexpected in its address, such as bbc.info rather than bbc.co.uk.
News outlets do run affiliate programs, ads, and marketing content. But any article that only pivots you into something like a cryptocurrency trading platform or an investment scheme is a scam.
