With technology and our way of communicating becoming more advanced and efficient, scammers too are also becoming more sophisticated with their methods of reaching out to potential victims.
Within this article, we have provided users with some common examples that you may encounter whilst using popular Social Media Platforms. We recommend that individuals familiarise themselves and identify some of these most common scams occurring through these platforms.
If you believe you have been the victim of a scam or fraudulent activity by a third party, please reach out to our CoinSpot Support Team here.
What is in this article?
- Scams through Facebook
- Scams through Instagram
- Scams through Twitter
- Scams through YouTube
- Scams through popular messaging services
- Further information on protecting yourself
- Where to report scams?
Scams through Facebook
Social Media websites such as Facebook are a popular launching platform for scammers to operate on. The most common way for scammers to utilise the platform is to share your profile photo under a fake Facebook page name stating that you are a winner of a giveaway. They can also reach out through Facebook comments advising you that you are a winner and to deposit cryptocurrency to a wallet address.
Another commonly used method is investment scams targeting users through forms of sponsored advertisements on Facebook.
We recommend our users to report and block fake CoinSpot pages to Facebook.
CoinSpot will never advise users to enter their login credentials to partake in a giveaway or send funds to an external wallet address. Our Facebook page is CoinSpot with a Verified Blue Tick Badge .
Below is a reference to the CoinSpot Facebook page. - https://www.facebook.com/coinspotau/
CoinSpot's Facebook Page:
Figure 1. Know your Social Media Scams - (CoinSpot Facebook Page)
Things to look out for:
- Fake CoinSpot pages can be called 'CoinSpot Australia' or 'CoinSpot' with unique text fonts.
- Suspicious phishing links to participate in a giveaway. Needing to log into your CoinSpot account to participate.
- Ensure to carefully check the Facebook page, amount of likes/followers, quantity of posts and whether the page has a Verified Blue Tick Badge
.
- Scammers will likely mention that they will double your funds, or promise unrealistic gains, if you send cryptocurrency to a wallet address.
Example of a Facebook Scam:
Figure 2. Know your Social Media Scams - (Fake Facebook Scam Example)
Scams through Instagram
Oftentimes you may receive unsolicited direct messages from scammers impersonating as wealth managers, financial advisors, FX/Forex investors or brokers promoting guaranteed returns by sending them small amounts of cryptocurrency. These individuals will try to gain your trust through social engineering and will try to persuade or harass you to partake in the scam.
In other situations, Instagram scams may arise when your friends or families' Instagram accounts are compromised by hackers. Hackers will take full control of the Instagram account and promote to the victims followers that they have made exponential returns and profits through a broker. The most common method is sharing their gains via Instagram Stories or direct messages.
We recommended our users to block all scammers and report them to Instagram
CoinSpot will never advise users to send funds to an external wallet address or advise users to log in to their account through a suspicious link.
Our Instagram account is ‘coinspot’ with a Verified Blue Tick Badge.
Below is a reference to the CoinSpot Instagram page. - https://www.instagram.com/coinspot/
CoinSpot's Instagram Page:
Figure 3. Know your Social Media Scams - (CoinSpot Instagram Page)
Things to look out for:
- Accounts calling themselves FX/Forex Trader, Binary Options Trader, Entrepreneur, Crypto Miner, Account Managers, mentors and coaches.
- Recently created Instagram accounts with an abundance of posts within a small time frame or within the same day.
- Advising you that they will be coaching or trading on your behalf.
- Promising high returns for minimal initial investment.
- Fake influencers and celebrities with lavish lifestyle posts of exotic sports cars, luxury items and expensive holidays. Photos are often extracted from Google Images and photoshopped.
- Attempts at adding in a sense of false realism by showing their personal family life, hobbies and interests.
- Fake testimonies from other Instagram accounts or through their Instagram Highlights to reinforce legitimacy. These testimonies will consist of fake profits, edited screenshots to show high returns and balance holdings.
- High Instagram followings, with minimal follower engagement, as these are often purchased or bots.
Examples of an Instagram Scam:
Figure 4. Know your Social Media Scams - (Instagram Scam Examples)
Scams through Twitter
If you are following cryptocurrency individuals, exchanges or coin communities, you will often see that scammers will impersonate those parties by mentioning how they will double your funds once depositing cryptocurrency into their wallet address. Once you send your coins to their wallet address, those funds will not be recoverable.
We recommend our users to report and block all Twitter cryptocurrency scammers
CoinSpot will never ask you to send funds to a wallet address or click on any phishing link. CoinSpot’s Twitter account will have the username ‘@coinspotau’ and a Gold Verification Tick Badge .
Below is a reference to the CoinSpot Twitter page. - https://twitter.com/coinspotau
CoinSpot's Twitter:
Figure 5. Know your Social Media Scams - (CoinSpot Twitter Page)
Things to look out for:
- Check the name and username, often at times you will see a discrepancy between the real and fake Twitter account. These can be small typos in the username.
- Recently created Twitter accounts, make sure to check their profile and locate the joined month and year in the header.
- Accounts promoting high returns or generosity by donating back to the community but users must send funds to a wallet address to receive any in return.
- There will be Twitter accounts trying to reinforce the legitimacy of their cause by stating how grateful or thankful they are to receive the giveaway. Usually they are from paid tweets or bots.
Example of Scams through Twitter:
Figure 6. Know your Social Media Scams - (Twitter Scam Example)
Scams through YouTube
Another common method for scammers to exploit is through YouTube. Generally, scammers will broadcast live videos of an already existing video with a high profile influencer or individual within the cryptocurrency industry being interviewed or answering questions. The videos are generally promoting giveaways advising individuals to deposit cryptocurrency to a wallet address to participate in a limited time giveaway.
We recommended our users to report the existing video and channel to YouTube
CoinSpot does not have a YouTube Channel.
Things to look out for:
- Recently created YouTube channel.
- Auto-playing an existing interview or conference of a high profile individual.
- Asking you to send funds for a giveaway is a red flag.
- Promoting an opportunity for users to partake in an exclusive giveaway with limited spots.
- Displaying a wallet address or a QR code of the wallet address to deposit to.
Example of Scams through YouTube:
Figure 7. Know your Social Media Scams - (YouTube Scam Example)
Scams through popular messaging services
A prominent way scammers take advantage of victims is through popular messaging service apps such as Discord, Telegram and WhatsApp. There are many different types of scams within those messaging services, some examples include imposters acting as cryptocurrency experts/brokers/account managers, phishing attacks, false tech support scams, giveaway scams, pump and dump groups and romance scams.
We recommend our users to block and report those groups or individuals
CoinSpot is not on any of those platforms. We will never advise you to deposit funds to an external wallet address.
Things to look out for:
- Romance scams, unexpected messages of strong love and affection. Scammers' profile pictures can usually display a model or a low/high profile celebrity.
- Paying a membership fee, being coerced to deposit cryptocurrency to a wallet address.
- Guaranteed high yield returns from small upfront initial deposit.
- Suspicious links replicating legitimate websites.
- VIP access or paid premium membership to exclusive cryptocurrency trading opportunities.
Example of scams through Telegram and WhatsApp:
Figure 8. Know your Social Media Scams - (Telegram/WhatsApp Scam Examples)
Further information on protecting yourself
The Australian Government via the ACCC’s Scamwatch and The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) also provide insightful advice to all Australians on how to protect themselves online. We recommend that you familiarise yourself with their warnings and advice.
- Scamwatch - Protect yourself from scams
- Scamwatch - Investment Scams
- Scamwatch - Social media scams
- ACSC - Protecting your family
- ACSC - Personal Security Guides
- ACSC - Protect yourself
Where to Report Scams?
If you believe you have been the victim of a scam or fraudulent activity by a third party, there are places you can lodge a complaint. We strongly recommend that you report this activity to the relevant authorities for further investigation.
ScamWatch is a website run by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), to report a scam click here.
ReportCyber is the Australian Government’s online cybercrime reporting tool for Australian individuals, businesses and government, to report a scam click here.
Need more help?
Please submit your request via Zendesk - https://coinspot.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
or start a conversation with us via Live Chat and our team will provide full instructions and advice.
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