Social Media is a Great Way to Scam People According to the United States FTC

Shew, so many social media articles these days, so little time.

And today’s news is another installment of our favorite genre: The more you know, the safer you are.

Specifically, the Federal Trade Commission the United States released a report outlining how social media is one of the most scam-riddled places on the web and what users can do to protect themselves or avoid them entirely.

Unsurprisingly, the usual suspects are present and accounted for here, yet we’ve also got some new things to think about such as “More than half of people who reported losses to investment scams in 2021 said the scam started on social media.”

Further, “Reports to the FTC show scammers use social media platforms to promote bogus investment opportunities, and even to connect with people directly as supposed friends to encourage them to invest. People send money, often cryptocurrency, on promises of huge returns, but end up empty handed.”

Sadly, investment scams and get-rich-quick schemes aren’t the only grift alive and well on social media. Right after investment scams come “romance” or cat-phishing related scams wherein the thief portrays himself or herself as someone he or she is not in order to steal money from people.

It’s a tale as old as time but on a scale unlike any ever seen before. The report details how easy social media makes these scams as well as how it is basically free to start up again one the scam account gets shut down.

You can read more about it over here on the FTC’s website.

If you’ve got any thoughts about the various scams prevalent on social media, we’d love to hear them in the comments below.

Check out our other photography news on Light Stalking at this link right here.

[FTC]