More than 4.6 billion individuals, or 58.4% of the world’s population, use social media now. With 73% of all small businesses spending time and money on these platforms, even enterprises are starting to recognize the enormous potential of social media. As ubiquitous as these platforms are in customers’ daily lives, they also serve as a haven for opportunistic fraudsters and scammers who attempt to defraud people by pulling a variety of con tricks.
As a brand, you must be aware of these frauds and how they could hurt your company. However, it’s not always simple to spot these scams. Social media makes it simple for the public to obtain private information, which can help with a number of scams.
Why do scammers target social media for phishing?
Global connections are made through social media. Many people use social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Snapchat to communicate with friends and coworkers. They are also employed as tools for watching videos, making purchases, searching for employment, and much more.
Globally, social media is used by billions of individuals who share personal information about themselves, including where they reside, what they enjoy, what they are interested in, and who they communicate with. Social media firms receive information from user data, which enables advertisers to target particular groups with marketing they believe will work well for that particular group.
Threat actors favour social media for the same reasons. The platforms provide a low-effort approach to reach billions of people anywhere in the world and have emerged as one of the primary targets for phishing attempts in recent years.
Additionally, attacks have gotten simpler. Tools are available that enable a threat actor to swiftly pose as well-known identities and win the trust of the victims, allowing attacks to proliferate quickly through a compromised account’s buddy list.
Why are social media phishing scams so difficult to recognize?
Scams on social media are prevalent across practically all platforms. 26% of all recorded fraud losses in 2021 were attributable to social media. This figure shows a startling 18-fold increase in just the last four years. Given how challenging it is to identify these scams for a variety of reasons, it is a profitable choice for bad actors. To comprehend the seriousness of the issue, it is crucial to talk about those causes.
Several different types of social media phishing scams to look into
Social media makes it simple for the public to obtain private information, which can help with a number of scams. Pages and accounts can be used to distribute fraudulent adverts, undertake cryptocurrency, currency, and gift card scams, conduct phishing attacks, and impersonate executives. Every fraud on every platform demands a distinct approach to identifying and stopping it.
Top 9 most prominent social media phishing scams to watch out in 2022
Here’s a closer look at the eight lures we found, along with context and examples from real-world situations. None of these are legitimate firm websites; they are all phishing pages.
1. Classic login phishing
The most typical and pervasive phishing strategy involves the development of a website with a name and design that is identical to the official social media login page. When users attempt to access their profile, this template tricks them into thinking the page is authentic and steals their login information.
2. Locked accounts notices
The goal of this attack strategy is to steal login credentials by taking advantage of users’ anxiety over losing account access. These types of phishing websites typically scare users into disclosing personal information by claiming that someone has accessed their account without their permission (false), that their information is out-of-date, or that they must go through a security checklist.
3. Executive impersonations
In this social media phishing scam, the criminal initially creates a fictitious profile based on a genuine individual. The abundance of publicly accessible data is used to construct a false account that poses as a well-known person. After that, bogus postings and messages requesting money are sent out to anyone using this account.
Recently, Twitter accounts posing as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos tweeted requests for investments in a certain cryptocurrency account. Persuaded victims ultimately sent money to the perpetrators’ accounts after believing the endorsement to be genuine.
4. Lottery and gift card scams
Scams involving gift cards and lotteries rely on people’s desire for money. Many gullible victims ultimately fall for the trap in an effort to gain quick money.
These frauds typically start with unsolicited social media communications pretending to be gift certificates for well-known stores. They will then probably be redirected to another page where they will be required to carry out a simple action, such as forwarding the message to their friends. They occasionally also request the completion of extra credentials, which are afterward taken.
The same way lottery frauds start, too. To complete the transaction, they either ask the individuals to give their account information or request a little payment to cover the costs of the transaction. Many victims waste thousands of dollars in the false belief that they will ultimately win a large sum of money.
5. Copyright violation notices
Social media sites are not allowed to upload anything without the owner’s consent and have strong policies preventing users from posting content that is protected by a third party’s copyright. Such a provision is used in phishing attacks to trick users into believing that their accounts have been restricted for violating copyright laws. In order to unlock their profiles on this type of malicious website, victims must log in and reveal their credentials.
6. Verified badge scams
On various social media platforms, verified badges are icons that show that the platform has verified that an account is the real presence of the public/popular figure, celebrity, or brand it represents. Accounts that have been verified are typically more reliable and may also benefit from additional benefits like a wider reach.
Verified badges are used in phishing efforts to persuade visitors to enter their login information on the target website. Users that visit malicious URLs are prompted to log in so they can maintain or regain their verified status on the platform.
7. Quizzes and other information-mining tactics
One of the most desired commodities by hackers is data. Each one of them is designed to mine your data, from enticing quizzes to IQ tests. The value of these services, which are free, is found in the information they gather. These quizzes are highly alluring because of their clickbait titles. Once the quiz’s creators have the information they require, they will sell the quiz to other bad guys on the dark web.
8. Two-Factor authentication interception
Even while many users are already aware of two-factor authentication, it might come as a surprise to them to hear that their two-factor authentication codes from an app or SMS can also be obtained via phishing. For people who are used to logging in with a two-factor code, being asked for a code on a phishing site is just a natural extension of their learned log-in behavior.
Insidious phishing tactics instead try to access profiles with two-factor authentication enabled by intercepting temporary codes. These tokens, which are frequently necessary to login and make changes to an account, are typically linked to the victim’s phone number or a code-generating app on their device.
9. Account hacking
A more recent variation of phishing attempts that target social media profiles hacking services. Malicious campaigns based on hacking services frequently lead users to believe they can access another customer’s profile or divulge their email address or list of interactions. Most often, these campaigns’ objective is to continually reroute victims and earn from other services like adverts or surveys rather than steal credentials.
Conclusion
The impact of these scams goes beyond just disclosing your login details to a single business or service, which is why they are important. The victim or their connections may suffer financial losses as a result, and they can also be utilized to proliferate the phishing effort. You should be on the watch for both of these frauds as well as whatever they come up with next because con artists are working so hard to get victims to divulge their login information, we hope you liked our article which is on Top 9 Social Media Phishing Scams in 2022.