Shocking but true. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and other social media or message services are brutally used to scam consumers. Over the last four months, the UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has taken down over 300,000 malicious URLs linking to fake celebrity-endorsed investment schemes featuring famous faces such as Richard Branson and Martin Lewis. In the age of social media, scammers try to rip off naive consumers and small investors via fake celebrity accounts, unscrupulous influencers, fake success stories, and false endorsements. Unfortunately, this is very often successful.
These investment scams are a striking example of the kind of methods cyber criminals are now deploying to try to con people. We are exposing them today not only to raise public awareness but to show the criminals behind them that we know what they’re up to and are taking action to stop it.
Ciaran Martin, NCSC Chief Executive Officer (link)
Virgin Group founder Richard Branson said that his people have dealt with hundreds of instances of fake sites and fraudsters impersonating him or his team. They are working with organizations such as NCSC to report these sites to get them taken down as quickly as possible.
As a society we are at the beginning of this new type of fraud (aka scams). This is the dark side of cybersociety. The more digital money and investments become, the easier it is for cybercriminals to organize scams. In fact, it is very difficult to tell if one of the many A/B/C/D/E celebrities supports a particular project. Basically you should not believe this and only invest if you are convinced yourself that this is good. With careful consideration and not by beautiful, seductive pictures on the web.
