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From stars to swingers: how scammers recruit victims.
F.A.C.C.T. conducted a large-scale study of the activity of fraudulent partner programs in the field of investment. The results showed a significant increase in such activities in the first half of 2024.
The company's analysts have identified more than 10,000 domains associated with the infrastructure of fraudulent investment projects. This figure is 25% higher than the number of domains detected in 2022, when the previous similar study was conducted.
The number of advertising posts in social networks aimed at attracting users to fraudulent sites has increased especially significantly. In the first five months of 2024, the number of such posts increased almost 40 times compared to January-May 2023: from 201 to 7869 publications.
In the period from January 2023 to May 2024, fraudsters published a total of 17,969 advertising posts in Russian on Instagram and Facebook. It is noteworthy that 98% of these posts were launched only from August 2023, which indicates a sharp increase in the activity of scammers.
Investment fraud, or investskam, is a deception scheme in which the victim is persuaded to voluntarily transfer money to fraudsters under the pretext of profitable investments in stocks or cryptocurrencies. Promises of high profits and stable passive income are used to attract victims, but securities or cryptocurrencies purchased on such platforms have no real value, and the invested funds cannot be returned.
According to experts, the increase in the activity of intruders in investment fraud is associated with the popularization of fraudulent partner programs in this area, which allow intruders to scale illegal business, attract more victims and increase profits by dividing tasks. The researchers identified 10 active affiliate programs that specialize in investment fraud.
Deception schemes include creating fake web resources, social media accounts, and instant messengers, as well as developing applications that mimic investment projects and exchanges. After replenishing the balance in a fraudulent investment platform, the victim may first be shown beautiful graphs about successful capital growth, which will then be replaced by falling quotes and the need for new investments. Fraudsters use a variety of methods to attract victims, including advertising on social networks, instant messengers, video hosting sites, email newsletters, and cold calls.
The posts use a wide variety of personal stories for promotion, including allegedly hacked correspondence of celebrities discussing passive income from an investment project, stories about men who got rich on investments, and even unusual stories about swinger families who found the secret of harmony and stable income through investing in stocks.
One of the key elements of such schemes is the active participation of fraudulent call centers. The potential victim is assigned a "personal investment expert" whose goal is to convince the person to invest in a supposedly profitable project. In some cases, partner programs use the services of up to 25 different call centers, especially when the schemes target different countries.
F.A.C.C.T. experts note that the number of identified web resources, affiliate programs, and advertising posts indicates a continued increase in the popularity of fraudulent schemes related to investments in stocks and cryptocurrencies. Such schemes pose a serious threat to ordinary Internet users and companies whose brands may be illegally used in these schemes.
Source
F.A.C.C.T. conducted a large-scale study of the activity of fraudulent partner programs in the field of investment. The results showed a significant increase in such activities in the first half of 2024.
The company's analysts have identified more than 10,000 domains associated with the infrastructure of fraudulent investment projects. This figure is 25% higher than the number of domains detected in 2022, when the previous similar study was conducted.
The number of advertising posts in social networks aimed at attracting users to fraudulent sites has increased especially significantly. In the first five months of 2024, the number of such posts increased almost 40 times compared to January-May 2023: from 201 to 7869 publications.
In the period from January 2023 to May 2024, fraudsters published a total of 17,969 advertising posts in Russian on Instagram and Facebook. It is noteworthy that 98% of these posts were launched only from August 2023, which indicates a sharp increase in the activity of scammers.
Investment fraud, or investskam, is a deception scheme in which the victim is persuaded to voluntarily transfer money to fraudsters under the pretext of profitable investments in stocks or cryptocurrencies. Promises of high profits and stable passive income are used to attract victims, but securities or cryptocurrencies purchased on such platforms have no real value, and the invested funds cannot be returned.
According to experts, the increase in the activity of intruders in investment fraud is associated with the popularization of fraudulent partner programs in this area, which allow intruders to scale illegal business, attract more victims and increase profits by dividing tasks. The researchers identified 10 active affiliate programs that specialize in investment fraud.
Deception schemes include creating fake web resources, social media accounts, and instant messengers, as well as developing applications that mimic investment projects and exchanges. After replenishing the balance in a fraudulent investment platform, the victim may first be shown beautiful graphs about successful capital growth, which will then be replaced by falling quotes and the need for new investments. Fraudsters use a variety of methods to attract victims, including advertising on social networks, instant messengers, video hosting sites, email newsletters, and cold calls.
The posts use a wide variety of personal stories for promotion, including allegedly hacked correspondence of celebrities discussing passive income from an investment project, stories about men who got rich on investments, and even unusual stories about swinger families who found the secret of harmony and stable income through investing in stocks.
One of the key elements of such schemes is the active participation of fraudulent call centers. The potential victim is assigned a "personal investment expert" whose goal is to convince the person to invest in a supposedly profitable project. In some cases, partner programs use the services of up to 25 different call centers, especially when the schemes target different countries.
F.A.C.C.T. experts note that the number of identified web resources, affiliate programs, and advertising posts indicates a continued increase in the popularity of fraudulent schemes related to investments in stocks and cryptocurrencies. Such schemes pose a serious threat to ordinary Internet users and companies whose brands may be illegally used in these schemes.
Source
