Importantly, phishing relies on the victim trusting the scammer and taking an action - like clicking a link or sending bank account information - in order for the scammer to get what they want.
It's not your imagination - social media scams really are on the rise.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, social media scammers stole a total of $770 million from Americans in 2021.
Social media has become the number one most profitable method for scammers to scam.
That's because it's not only cheap but social media offers the number one thing that a phishing scam needs to succeed: personal information that can be manipulated.
Direct message scams are a vector for a variety of phishing-based social media scams.
The scammers are relying on peoples' trust of their social media friends and natural curiosity to trick victims into thoughtlessly clicking and then handing over private information.
Crypto scams are blowing up right now, especially on social media.
These scams use phishing techniques, usually in the form of a malicious link, to get someone's account credentials and take over their account.
Romance scammers create fake profiles on social media sites like Facebook or Instagram - and, increasingly, on legitimate dating sites - and then connect with intended targets.
Sugar daddy scams are kind of a crossover with romance scams and DM scams.
These scams utilize fake advertisements that look like they're coming from legitimate companies in order to get people to buy non-existent products.
These types of fake advertisement scams accounted for 45% of all reports of social media scams in 2021, according to the FTC. Avast Threat Labs detected a fake advertisement scam in 2021 that scammers had used to steal over $100,000 by the time they were detected.
Avast security experts very quickly detected scammers claiming to be Ukrainians in need on social media and asking for money in the form of cryptocurrency.
The idea here is to prevent someone who has gained access your password - like perhaps through a social media scam - from getting into your account.
Since one of the ways scammers utilize social media to scam is through fake advertisements, use an ad blocker.
Good antivirus software will protect you from all kinds of attacks, including social media scams.
The scammers could sell your information, which would potentially give other criminals access to other accounts of yours if you've reused passwords.
It's probably going to be a pain in the butt, but it's worth it to stop the scammers who are impersonating you and probably bugging your friends.
Social media scams are just one of the many ways cyber criminals are taking advantage of people online these days.
This Cyber News was published on securityboulevard.com. Publication date: Thu, 21 Dec 2023 13:43:05 +0000