Cryptocurrency scammers on Facebook advertisements now use influential executives of giant tech firms, including Tesla's Elon Musk, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg to promote investment frauds.
In this illustration photo taken in Los Angeles on October 28, 2021, a person watches on a smartphone Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveil the META logo. - Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday announced the parent company's name is being changed to "Meta" to represent a future beyond just its troubled social network.
Crypto Scammers on Facebook
As per a news story by Fortune, crypto scams on social media platforms have skyrocketed in 2021.
To be more precise, the Federal Trade Commission said in its latest consumer protection report that investment fraudsters flooded social media networks, primarily Meta's Facebook and Instagram.
Fortune noted that investment fraud is the top scheme on social media platforms, in terms of hefty money losses. But still, online shopping scams mainly flood these social networks.
Crypto scams in particular have gone up to 12 times higher in 2021 than its figures in 2020, which the FTC says has also drastically increased the money losses by about 1,000 percent.
As such, the recent FTC report showed that the biggest investment fraud on social media nowadays is crypto scams.
Crypto Scam Facebook Ads
This time around, according to a report by Mashable, crypto scammers are now using Facebook advertisements to lure its victims to their investment schemes.
Not to mention that the latest crypto scam is not only using Facebook ads, but it even parades itself with prominent figures like FB founder Mark Zuckerberg, along with tech giant figures, such as billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
This illustration photograph taken on July 19, 2021 in Istanbul shows a physical banknote and coin imitations of the Bitcoin crypto currency. (Photo by Ozan KOSE / AFP)
For instance, Mashable said in its news story that an FB ad showed a photo of none other than the CEO of Meta, Zuckerberg, claiming to be allowing Facebook users to invest in a Meta crypto token.
However, it is worth noting that Meta, the parent firm of Facebook and Instagram, does not have its own cryptocurrency token.
The ad even states that the "Meta token" is now on presale, touting the non-existent crypto as "the thrilling digital future."
On top of that photo of Zuckerberg, to make the crypto scam more believable, it even sports the logo of Meta.
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Crypto Scams Using Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos
Other crypto scam ads even use a photo of the CEO and founder of Tesla and SpaceX, Musk, encouraging viewers of the promotion to invest in what it calls the "Tesla token."
Mashable added that there was also an ad that offered Facebook users an opportunity to purchase a Walmart crypto token.
Another ad with a photo of billionaire Bezos, along with the logos of his e-commerce firm, is claiming to sell another made-up crypto, which goes by the name "Amazon tokens."
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Written by Teejay Boris
