Social Media Scams: The Gateway to Cybercrime

Social media use tripled in 2020. Due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, the socials became the most popular hangout in the world. Live concerts and live videos created a channel for us to keep interacting socially as humans.

Guess who else was hard at work in social media? Yes, scammers upped their game too! Adding fresh spins to old scams, there was anoted jump in scams initiated through socials.

The FTC in USA records that $117 million was lost in the first six months of 2020. 1 in 4 eCommerce sites got flagged for suspicious activity (read: scam). The top 3 online scams were:

• Online sellers who advertised on social media but did not deliver when customers ordered.
• Romantic interests who got ripped off through catfishing and sugaring scams.
• Phony requests for financial relief/help owing to COVID-19 business losses. 

Why are Social Media Scams So Common?

• The ease of creating social media accounts is the top reason. Any scammer with fake details can sign up on any social media platform in minutes. There is never a need to provide any identification documents. This can give users great anonymity online. It is also why buying and selling of accountswith lots of followers is a common practice.
• Inefficient site policing by social media companies gives space for scammers to keep their accounts and activities running for years. Violations that lead to account closure have such a high threshold that most scammers know how to evade them.
• Social media users have blind faith that the social media company will never allow scams to occur on their platform. Failure to do due diligence by consumers in checking ads, accounts, and pages before engaging costs them millions annually. A simple Google search done on a company will usually reveal reasons to trust or distrust an online seller. Checking reviews and votes on sites like Scamadviser can also help avoid scams.
• Targeted social media ads and legit-looking profiles are ways scammers present a trustworthy face. Do not simply believe every ad you see on socials. If you are interested in an advertised item, please check the seller’s website for scam signs.

Common Social Media Scams

Scammers usually improve on the same old scams. They may add a twist so that it’s not spotted quickly, but there is no social media scam that is entirely new. Here are some common ones:

Malicious Video Links

The video that gets in your face with a message like “you will not believe what happens next” is usually intended to lure you to scammer sites. Some lead to automatic download links that get malware into your devices.

Photos are also used in this way. With captions like, “Is that you in this photo” all intended to make you click on them. This is a classic tactic in malware scams.

See Who’s Viewed Your Profile

These are scammers who claim they can show who viewed your profile, who unfollowed/unfriended you. That is private information that scammers cannot access. They are simply ways to create traffic to their sites, get you to enroll in a survey, and get your personal details. Identity theft is the goal here, don’t fall for it.

Clickbait

These are ways to trick social media users to click. They may be:

• Fake Celebrity news like “Justin Bieber Shot Last Night”
• Fake Breaking News with titles that start with “Shocking Revelation…”
• False Warnings like “Do Not Scroll Without Reading This”

Here are more of these types of scams.

How to Avoid Social Media Scams

• Check out seller ads before you order anything. You can use Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo to see reviews others have made on them. Use Scamadviser to check the site’s trust score.
• Never send money to a romantic interest whom you have not met in person. They may be clever scammers.
• DO NOT trust messages that request relief in financial help that come from strange accounts. If they come from friends that you know, call them to verify.
• BEWARE of online job opportunities that require you to pay first for “course materials, manuals, or registration” All these are scams.
• Keep your social media profile private if the option is there. Never set your status to public. It makes you an easy target for scammers.
• Report accounts that show suspicious activity to the site for review.

Social media is a place that requires you to be extra vigilant. Keep a healthy skepticism whenever you are considering a person, an advert, or a news item on socials. It may be the difference between you getting scammed and staying safe online.