Multiple victims, mostly young people between the ages of 18 and 25, are invited to invest through an ad in the app; then the scammers disappear
British authorities report an increase in the
activity of some online criminal groups, especially those that claim to
increase investments in a short time. In this case, according to network
security and ethical hacking specialists from the International
Institute of Cyber Security, victims receive promises of high returns after
only 24 hours, but criminals take the money to disappear shortly thereafter.
Over the past 5 months, the British authorities
have received more than 300 allegations about this type of fraud, and the
losses accumulate over £3M, without considering the victims
who have not filed allegations.
According to experts in network security, the
scam starts with an ad in the Instagram
app. In this, victims are invited to transfer various amounts (£600 on average), promising gains almost automatic. When the victims send
the money to scammers, they receive back screenshots with their supposed profits
piling up in a bank account.
Later the attackers incite the victims to
increase their investment, also mentioning that their earnings can be released
paying a fee, so that a single victim could lose thousands of pounds.
Then worst part comes later: scammers close
their Instagram accounts, stop contacting the victims and disappear taking the
money with them.
According to experts in network security,
scammers resort to the use of professional-looking images, and can also promise
special discounts in some stores, investment tips in “secret stocks”, among other
information related to the stock market.
According to a cybersecurity firm, there are
more than two million potentially fraudulent Instagram posts, fraud dubbed by
the UK
government as ‘money-flipping’. Action Fraud, an office of fraud
awareness in British territory, mentioned in a report: “Criminals will always
try to take advantage of social networks, because they have become part of the
daily life of people”.
Action fraud insists that money should never be
sent to strangers online, and also invites users to report any potentially
fraudulent publication to the competent authorities.
