Social networking sites and social media, in general, are filled with Bitcoin scammers ready to swindle any unsuspecting individual who is looking for profit.
With the growth of the crypto industry, it was inevitable that Bitcoin scams and other illegal activities would also grow. Such scams are now common on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and even messaging app Telegram. These scams can now be seen in the comment section of popular Tweets, Facebook posts impersonating an influential person and now even on Instagram.
These scams include impersonation of a figure that is both well-known and trusted by the public. Across Twitter, such scams involve clone bots that use the name of the person they are impersonating with an auto-generated id. This bot then replies to the original person’s comments to promote the scam while impersonating the original person. Such scams have appeared even on Tweets by the US President Donald Trump.
Across Facebook and Instagram, these scams do not need such complex mechanisms but rather fake news coupled with photos of the original person is used to promote the scam through an ad that could implicate the reputation of the person being mimicked.
People blamed Facebook for scam screening failure
Most recently Bitcoin scammers used the name and photos of Martin Lewis to promote a scam across Instagram through ads. Lewis used his Twitter handle to advise his followers about these scams. Similar scam ads involving Lewis have also appeared on Facebook and despite being reported, the scams have still persisted on the network.
Meanwhile, people blamed Facebook, the parent company of Instagram for the issue as they claimed all ads were checked before they were approved. If the ads were thoroughly verified then how could Facebook allow scams to be advertised on its network?
Featured image by pixabay.
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