Financial Cybercrime facilitated by Cryptocurrencies and Social Media Gold Mine Explode

FinTelegram has warned many times against fraud marketing campaigns chasing victims for their investment schemes on Google and social media platforms. Our research findings show that online attackers find victims for their investment schemes primarily through fraudulent crypto campaigns on Google and social media platforms. Cybercrime organizations combine the power of social media with the new capabilities of cryptocurrencies to build super-efficient cyber fraud machines.

Fraudulent crypto campaigns such as Bitcoin Revolution, Bitcoin Evolution, or Bitcoin Prime promise consumers high profits and quick wealth in Google Ads and ads and posts on social media. Increasingly, they rely on referral systems where customers use a referral link to recruit new customers and receive commissions from the new deposits. This leads to victims inviting their friends and victimizing them.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) confirms that Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms are a gold mine for online fraudsters. The latest consumer protection data report shows a sharp spike in online fraud schemes, particularly crypto schemes. More than 95,000 U.S. consumers reported about $770 million in losses to fraud initiated on social media platforms in 2021, up from $258 million in 2020. The FTC data suggest that social media was far more profitable to fraudsters in 2021 than any other method of reaching people.

Thus, since 2017, the number of U.S. victims and their losses in online fraud schemes has increased more than 18-fold. Cybercrime losses initiated on social media account for about 25% of all reported losses to fraud in 2021. Besides social media, crypto-related schemes have significantly contributed to the massive surge in fraud reports, the FTC data suggest.

No data is currently available for Europe and Asia for 2021. However, we can assume that the ratio figures also apply to Europe, which means that financial cybercrime powered by crypto and social media is booming. 25% of all online fraud cases in Europe and Asia may also be initiated via the "gold mine" of social media.

Blockchain analysis company Chainalysis reported that illicit crypto transactions topped $14 billion last year, an all-time high. However, the amount of illegal activity compared to legitimate transactions hit an all-time low as the global adoption of cryptocurrency skyrocketed. Illicit crypto transactions were prevalent in the decentralized finance, or DeFi, space, which experienced explosive growth last year, Chainalysis said.

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Ben Givon
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Active since 2018, FinTelegram (www.fintelegram.com) is a cyber financial intelligence and whistleblower platform with the mission of protecting and educating investors. FinTelegram regularly produces reports on financial service providers and issues warnings about schemes and fraudulent activities.

This release was published on openPR.