Avoiding Investment and Payment Scams Online

(MENAFN- bursonglobal) Investment and payment scams are often perpetrated by criminals who attempt to capitalize on current events and economic anxieties to pursue their targets.
Investment scams are designed to lure people into investing in fraudulent or non-existent opportunities. These scams often promise quick and easy returns with little to no risk on assets like shares of a company, cryptocurrency, real estate or precious metals and coins. Scammers often contact people by email, social media, texts or calls – with offers of “exclusive” or special opportunities, or invitations to join “investment coaching” groups.

Payment scams often rely on the speed and relative anonymity provided by online instant payment services to defraud targets.

That’s why, as part of Meta’s ongoing efforts to promote scam awareness, Meta is sharing insights and practical tips to help you recognize common investment and payment scams online as well as highlighting tools that are available across Meta platforms to help you avoid these scams.

Tips to Avoid Investment and Other Online Payment Scams
Here are some tips on how to spot scams and stay safe:

1. Look up who’s giving you investment advice and make sure they are qualified and licensed financial advisers. Never make investment decisions solely based on online investment tips.
Fraudsters may impersonate registered brokers, investment advisers or even celebrities to gain your trust and confidence, so it’s important that you engage them only on their official channels - independently verify their official email address and phone numbers from official sources, then call them directly and ask if they are working with you and offering you the investment.

Be wary of investment directions from someone you do not personally know and do your independent research on any investment. Do not rely only on the word of the person you’re communicating with.

2. Recognize classic investment fraud red flags: Get rich quick offers, guaranteed, no risk, high investment returns. Every investment has risk, and the potential for high returns usually comes with high risk. A promise of high investment return that often comes with a guarantee of little or no risk, creating a sense that there is limited time or need to act fast, or claiming that past success with investments in well-known companies is a reason to buy stock in a little-known, low value company – is a classic sign of investment fraud. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Keep in mind that some scammers are sophisticated, and may spend weeks or months trying to gain your trust. These scammers may not make promises at first, but later lead you to an “opportunity” that involves promises of profits. Offers to invest in small companies with low stock prices and little operating history or track records of profitability may be warning signs.

3. Use instant payment methods like Zelle, to transfer money only to people you know and trust.
Instant payment methods are convenient but most payments are irreversible if you send funds to a scammer. Make sure to review protections you have for fraud and scams on specific payment methods or use other modes of payment.
Investment and Online Payment Scams to Watch Out For
Here is an example of investment scam to watch out for, according to research Meta has done in partnership with open source researchers at Graphika:

Fake cryptocurrency investment coaches
The scammers targeted people in South Africa and used fake accounts on Facebook and TikTok to pose as employees and investment coaches affiliated with the Luno and Valr cryptocurrency investment apps. They lured people with “trading secrets” for Luno, Valr and the trading platform Yellow Card. Fake investment coaches also posted decontextualized images and videos of people crying or singing, superimposed over crypto account screenshots to make it look like they are thanking the fake crypto coach for getting them money. Scammers also offered to help people recover funds lost to previous Luno- and Valr-related scams.

Advance Payment
A scammer might have a legitimate-seeming storefront or profile on a reselling platform, like Facebook Marketplace. After selling an item, they might ask the buyer to make payments ahead of the shipment or delivery of a purchased item. After receiving payment, the scammer stops responding to contact and does not send the purchased item.

Claims of Overpayment and Refund Request
A scammer might overpay for an item they’ve purchased online (or claim to have overpaid using a fake receipt) and request a partial refund from the seller. After receiving the partial refund, the scammer would then reverse their original payment (if they made one), keeping both the original payment and the refund.

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