Beware of such ads on Instagram & Facebook!

[elevates]

Today I came across a few advertisements on Instagram (I am sure they would appear on Facebook too) that promise a program can find lost/forgotten cryptocurrency wallets. For me, that was a red flag! The inquisitive me was eager to know what exactly was being offered. I went ahead and followed as instructed and found a telegram bot that was designed to install Malware on my mobile device.

Why are hackers targeting mobile devices

 

The crypto wallet market size would explode for sure and the same would happen for cryptocurrency exchange apps in the future. How can anyone ignore this fact. We are living in ,2023 where AI bots are controlling content generation & content development.
Considering those factors, imagine on what level scammers, spammer, hackers and a normal person would work on to fulfill the desired outcome.

Sharing the advertisement screenshot



You can read the message displayed on this screenshot. If you were a newbie or someone struggling with trading or you might have lost your fiat due to the volatility of the market, scammed by someone, wallet got hacked then what will you do? You would surely click on the Learn more button.

That is what I did and went to the next screen which was a self-hosted website. Why was a redirected to a website hosted by the hacker? The reason is Facebook's advertising regulation.

Next screen, I found the hacker




In the end it was telegram botl




What do you think this Telegram bot will do?

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[Davidvictorson]

There are people who would fall for this scam. They'll just keep following the prompt from the program while some may come to their senses when the program requests for key phrase or some personal information while some others may just foolishly go on until they lose their coins. Back to a very important security tip,  before you click click on any links or download any files be sure that  you have verified the sender's identity to avoid sad stories.

[Jatiluhung]

Well, I also saw this kind of ad on Instagram and actually it's also on Facebook but I don't have a screenshot. But fraudulent ads on facebook seem a bit different. because of fraudulent advertisements on Facebook about offering accurate trading signals that promise multiple profits. I'm not trying to log in. but one of my friends was curious and tried it. and it turns out that the contents of the ad are linked to the channel on Telegram. and it's the channel about trading unknown tokens that show up as well as insane like thousands of percent. (pumps). so the channel owner invites people to buy tokens which he says will be pumped. and my friend tried it. but it turns out that the purchased token cannot be sold. i don't know what type of scam it is. but fortunately my friend only tried in a few dollars. because he was already suspicious. but he just wanted to confirm his suspicions. and then it tells me to avoid it. he mentioned the term of the token (non-sellable token) but I forgot what the term of the token is.

[Nwada001]

I always disregard any form of online advertising because the rate at which scammers are using ads to penetrate users' gadgets is very high. Clicking on those ads alone is very risky, even to the extent of joining their Telegram group. If that link is a phishing link, your device will no longer be safe. There is every possibility that you could already have been compromised before now, even without joining their proposed private Telegram channel.

My advice is that you should always disengage yourself from clicking on unknown links, especially when you are using a device that contains your crypto wallet information. It's really not safe.

In addition to the main content on the OP, they want to invite you into their private channel so that they can show you some convincing stuff that will make you believe that they could really help you restore your lost wallet or probably send the victim some links that will grant them complete access to the user's device if they don't have it already.

[SatoPrincess]

Well it says “click to join our private community”, I think the telegram bot takes you to a group chat/channel where they post testimonies of how good their software works and a tag to contact the admin for help. Anyone who is dumb enough to get to this stage of contacting admin is likely to get scammed.

Phishing scams are popular these days, it’s very risky to open links on the internet, your device may get compromised.

[reizella28]

Most scams like this are targeting newbies. Since if you are experienced in this industry you'll be aware if someone message you like the OP's examples, then we could tell if it's legit or not by just looking at bot message or the contact itself. But newbies fall for this trick, as they don't know how this industry work they would just follow some simple rules that they think are actually helping. Let's be honest that in the internet, there's an automated messages that also from legitimate contacts so it would confuse a lot of newbies.

[dimonstration]

Today I came across a few advertisements on Instagram (I am sure they would appear on Facebook too) that promise a program can find lost/forgotten cryptocurrency wallets. For me, that was a red flag! The inquisitive me was eager to know what exactly was being offered. I went ahead and followed as instructed and found a telegram bot that was designed to install Malware on my mobile device.

It’s odd such ads to see on facebook and telegram because they usually strict with the content but you will only watch that ads if your social media activity is more on investment since this ads use a smart targeting that available only for user that have an interest with that same topic.

Normal user that doesn’t have interest on that thing will not gonna see it. But of course, there’s always a gullible person that wants to try this kind of stuff online for a quick reach ambition. Maybe there’s few victim but that’s part of learning lesson.

[hugeblack]

Today I came across a few advertisements on Instagram (I am sure they would appear on Facebook too) that promise a program can find lost/forgotten cryptocurrency wallets.
What do you think this Telegram bot will do?

I am still surprised why Meta does not make any effort to remove this type of content, even though they have enough capabilities, resources and technology to curb this fraud, if not reduce the fraud rate to zero.
The scammers are also lazy and their methods are easy to learn, however Meta leaves all the side to the users who waste their life effort believing these ads.


Increasing awareness will make these scammers pay Meta for free or revenue for their scam.

[michellee]

If someone offers to help with something that seems too good for many people to do, we should suspect them because it could be a scam. Especially if they tell us to use something that might look normal so we won't suspect it is a sign of fraud.

I think many cases have trapped many people in fraud cases without them being aware. By looking at the screenshot, we have to be suspicious and not continue it because it could end up being a scam that happened to us.

But I don't know. Maybe some beginners will be stuck with what people say, so they will do what they want. And finally, they will usually ask for money to be sent to their wallet and leave the victim without notification.

[jrrsparkles]

Social media never cared about what they are showing it to their audience when it comes to content as well as the advertisement, so someone can post a fake site link and pay some dollars to show it to the people so more you pay then more people will see it and myself reported such kind of ads on every platform but it keep showing until they took down after reach certain reports but by that time atleast few people might fell for the scam.

[Ultegra134]

I haven't seen many cryptocurrency-related scam advertisements on Facebook, to be honest. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence, regulations that block them, or user reports, but I've seen an abundance of so-called entrepreneurs and Ponzi schemes. I can't comprehend that someone could fall for such a scam, while at the same time I'm wondering what this Telegram bot could possibly do to trick you into installing some unknown software—how and why on earth would someone do that? Even a cryptocurrency newbie wouldn't fall for that, unless they're also targeting naive people who have no relation to cryptocurrencies, tricking them into thinking that it's something that is possible.

[Asiska02]

Since Facebook and Instagram advertisements are unregulated, scammers are taking advantage of this opportunity to scam more people. As a newbie who knows nothing about bitcoin or cryptocurrency and is unaware that the transaction is irreversible, they will immediately follow the instruction and fall into the hands of this fraudster.

To me, even though the adverts on the website appear to be genuine, the fact that it quickly led me to Telegram to continue with a Telegram bot raises a red flag. Cases like this should be reported so that Instagram can remove similar adverts, although this may take longer than intended. They don't easily take down such with few reports, and I believe they are more concerned with money than with reports like these until they no longer have a choice.

[bbigtart]

Yes, right. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are exploited by criminals who try to deceive users by using promotional advertisements for cryptocurrency phishing. They may create false advertisements that display false promotions, display deceptive images or information, and encourage people to click on the advertisements.

When someone clicks on the ad, they can be taken to a phishing website that mimics the official site of a popular cryptocurrency exchange or digital wallet. Then, users are asked to enter their personal information, such as a username, password, or request a Private Key, which can be misused by criminals.

It is very important for us when using social media to check the legitimacy of the website before entering any personal information or carrying out any financial transactions on the internet. Always use official, trusted sites for transactions, and never click on suspicious or unknown ads. Do not be easily tempted by promotional offers that are too good to be true and always exercise caution when dealing with cryptocurrencies.

[acroman08]

I agree with SatoPrincess, the link would probably bring you to a private channel where people would give fake feedback to convince you to use the "service"

thanks for sharing this by the way.

Since Facebook and Instagram advertisements are unregulated, scammers are taking advantage of this opportunity to scam more people.

it is regulated, but they are just too damn lazy and greedy to actually do their job, scammers know this and that is why they take that opportunity to scam people. they would rather gain profit from those ads than to actually protect their platform users, and when you report a scam ad/s there would rarely be any action being done.

[BitcoinPanther]

It was an obvious scheme to lure people into using these bots and install a malware to hack the unsuspecting victim.

This term is obviously a lie.  And one of the indicator that the advertiser is planning something evil.  Who would have profited in finding his own lost wallet?

Sharing the advertisement screenshot



You can read the message displayed on this screenshot. If you were a newbie or someone struggling with trading or you might have lost your fiat due to the volatility of the market, scammed by someone, wallet got hacked then what will you do? You would surely click on the Learn more button.

That is what I did and went to the next screen which was a self-hosted website. Why was a redirected to a website hosted by the hacker? The reason is Facebook's advertising regulation.

Running this program if legit is like stealing other peoples money if the person's intention is to use it to recover other peoples cryptocurrency balance.  Even newbie will notice that this kind of advertisement is fake or is smelling a scam.  Only people who wanted an easy money and eaten by greed will succumb to this temptation.

I haven't seen many cryptocurrency-related scam advertisements on Facebook, to be honest. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence, regulations that block them, or user reports, but I've seen an abundance of so-called entrepreneurs and Ponzi schemes. I can't comprehend that someone could fall for such a scam, while at the same time I'm wondering what this Telegram bot could possibly do to trick you into installing some unknown software—how and why on earth would someone do that? Even a cryptocurrency newbie wouldn't fall for that, unless they're also targeting naive people who have no relation to cryptocurrencies, tricking them into thinking that it's something that is possible.

It was rampant some years ago but because of the frequent case of scams, social media is now very sensitive about these incidents.  This crypto related scam advertisement are probably filtered or reported by users, reason why there are lesser advertisement like this on the social media today.  If there is an attempt like this scam attempt, it is quickly taken down or removed if some users reported it.

It is very important for us when using social media to check the legitimacy of the website before entering any personal information or carrying out any financial transactions on the internet. Always use official, trusted sites for transactions, and never click on suspicious or unknown ads. Do not be easily tempted by promotional offers that are too good to be true and always exercise caution when dealing with cryptocurrencies.

We must be very vigilant and don't believe everything that is advertised on social media because it is unregulated and scammers are rampant taking advantage of the lack of regulation of the social media platforms.

[Hyphen(-)]

Why are hackers targeting mobile devices

Because mobile devices are always with us because we must use them constantly, if they are successful in installing malware or anything else just to obtain your personal information and scam you that's their target.

Yes, right. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are exploited by criminals who try to deceive users by using promotional advertisements for cryptocurrency phishing. They may create false advertisements that display false promotions, display deceptive images or information, and encourage people to click on the advertisements.

Scammers have diminished the dignity of social media in the eyes of our parents, who see it as a haven for scammers rather than a platform that brings people from all over the world together.

It is very important for us when using social media to check the legitimacy of the website before entering any personal information or carrying out any financial transactions on the internet. Always use official, trusted sites for transactions, and never click on suspicious or unknown ads. Do not be easily tempted by promotional offers that are too good to be true and always exercise caution when dealing with cryptocurrencies.

If everyone can recognize such links, we will avoid them rather than clicking on them, but the scammers design the ad in such a way that we will believe it is too real. To avoid losing your coin, avoid clicking any link on any social media platform that you are unsure of.

[Cantsay]

A telegram bot? LMAO.

From the moment I set my eyes on the design of their ads I already knew that it was a scam, I don't know if anyone noticed but alot of scam this days have a pattern they use for their ANN and ads design it seems like they normally lookk for a cheap-ass graphics designer to do their job for them.

Well it says “click to join our private community”, I think the telegram bot takes you to a group chat/channel where they post testimonies of how good their software works and a tag to contact the admin for help. Anyone who is dumb enough to get to this stage of contacting admin is likely to get scammed.

Exactly my thoughts, most times when you stay for a long time in the group chat even when you never had the intention of participating in their so called money making strategy but because of the fake realistics testimonies being provided by fake or socket-puppet accounts you might be tempted to put your money in it. I have seen and heard stories from people about how they fell for such a scam and that's why both newbies and veteran members should remain vigillant of this type of scam.

[Sarah Azhari]

Most scams like this are targeting newbies. Since if you are experienced in this industry you'll be aware if someone message you like the OP's examples, then we could tell if it's legit or not by just looking at bot message or the contact itself. But newbies fall for this trick, as they don't know how this industry work they would just follow some simple rules that they think are actually helping. Let's be honest that in the internet, there's an automated messages that also from legitimate contacts so it would confuse a lot of newbies.

yes, one of the targets is newbies, but in a new era today where many expert people still got scammed by fake investments and stealing the asset by private keys, I really sure the scammer will choose it randomly, not only newbies but expert people who don't know or just knew the non-custodial wallet. So, We are known for a long time ago, facebook or any kind of social media is a nest of scammers, the scammer gathered there to just make plans and strategy how to steal what you have. So if we are in crypto, we must be careful, don't trust anyone even if yourself.

[dzungmobile]

• You should not store big amount of Bitcoin / cryptocurrency on your mobile devices. If you store it, just store a small amount which is needed when you're hanging out, for convenience
• Bigger amount should be stored on your computer/ laptop (should be multi-sig wallets or cold wallets or air-gapped walelts) or hardware wallets.
• Trying to build a practice to not be curious and click on any link including advertisement link

[Crypt0Gore]

Such ads are everywhere online, not only on Facebook and Instagram, it's very common on Twitter too, even some on Telegram if you don't privatize your Telegram security settings.

@dzungmobile you are giving people the wrong advice by telling them to store huge amounts of crypto on a computer,  do you know that a computer is very vulnerable to viruses and malware?

Do not store big amounts of crypto on your computer unless you don't connect your computer to the internet and I doubt that you aren't browsing on the computer already, hardware wallet is the safer place for a huge amount of cryptocurrencies.

A android smartphone is perfect for hot wallet like trust wallets and electron wallet since you will be sending and receiving transactions from time to time but if you want to buy and lock your coins away with any worries you need a hardware wallet, not a Computer.