Facebook crypto and coronavirus scams are on the rise. Entrepreneurs are taking advantage of the blockchain anonymity and the global pandemic to scam the vulnerable. However, many of these scams are getting detected early enough to avert suffering to the badly hit populations by the disease.
The creator of cloaking software Basant Gajjar just found himself on the wrong side of the law after Facebook filed a lawsuit against his creation, “LeadClock”. The social media platform made the move after the software peddled COVID-19 and crypto scams on top of sharing fake news.
It is not clear for how long the scam ads have been running on Facebook but it is clear that the leading social media network and crypto have never been in good terms. Several firms have been using the software to place advertisements that have seen the termination of their accounts.
Such scams explain why Facebook has in several occasions banned crypto advertising on its platform. The entry of the Libra project was seen as a move to capitalize on the crypto revenue ads. The project has however been put on hold awaiting clearance from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Cloaking simply denotes the act of hiding the true identity of an individual’s website from social network moderators. It also hides such details from search engines. This way, scammers evade stringent ad regulations and spread fake news in a bid to hoodwink unsuspecting social media goers.
Since 2017, the social media outfit has been fighting cloaking and terminating accounts of those found using the malicious method. However, this has become very difficult since cloaking is a huge business and has its backers.
The fight against crypto scams has been complicated by the coronavirus pandemic. Since Facebook lifted crypto ad ban in May 2019, the scammers are having a field day. However, with moderators in pace, the incidences might go down.
The Basant Gajjar lawsuit is not the first involving Facebook. The social media giant was sued by John de Mol, a Dutch billionaire for running a fake promotional ad using his name. Mol went ahead to win the case.
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