Eruption of Social Media Scams Since Pandemic

Don’t you just love keeping up with all your family and friends on Facebook? Social media is a wonderful place to see pics of your neighbor’s trip to Hawaii or their latest  remodel, but its not the greatest place if you are trying to stay safe online.

Social engineering scams have skyrocketed by a whopping 519% in 2020 when compared to 2019, say researchers at Baltimore-based ZeroFOX. The noted the similarity between their own and a recent report from the Federal Trade Commission, which found that scams on social media have flourished since the early months of the pandemic.  ZeroFOX states their data aligns with the findings in the FTC’s report, and they’ve observed a significant year-over-year increase in scams.

Here’s what they found:

• “423% increase in Financial Services (scammers/money mulers targeting banking customers)
• “1579% increase in Retail scams
• “226% increase in Consumer Goods scams
• “295% increase in HR scams, which could align with scammers looking to capitalize on work from home opportunities and lay-off/furloughs due to the pandemic
• “164% increase in crypto giveaway scams, where an account is taken over or an impersonator profile is created to look like an influencer to peddle the scam
• “609% increase in money flipping scams
• “100% increase in impersonating profiles that have someone who claims to work for a company in HR, but does not.”

ZeroFOX suggests that this activity will continue to magnify, because it’s highly profitable for scammers and it’s an approach that’s very succesful.

“ZeroFOX Alpha Team assesses that scammers will likely continue to use the pandemic as an opportunity to take advantage of desperate consumers,” the researchers write. “Emotional and economic distress can leave victims vulnerable to these scams, especially ones designed to alleviate stress and reduce the impact of the pandemic. Alpha Team also assesses that the scam types will remain constant and we will not see many new scams, mostly due to the years of experience and resources available for tried and tested scams. The old adage ‘don’t fix what isn’t broke’ applies to bad actors as well. As always, be mindful when using social media for business or for personal use to prevent yourself from becoming the next victim to a social media scam.”

When using social media, always use caution before you click.  if you need help with cybersecurity solutions, contact DarkHound at [email protected].

Sources: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/10/26/social-media-scams-covid-19-pandemic/6038917002/

Image Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/apple-applications-apps-cell-phone-607812/