A huge network has been discovered across Europe that uses more than 11,000 website domains to promote fake investment schemes to users in Europe. To achieve their goal, these platforms show evidence in which someone got rich and they also have fake endorsements from famousIt’s to create an image of legitimacy and attract more victims, as the cybersecurity company Group-IB has verified.
The objective of the operation is to deceive users with a highly profitable investment opportunity and convince them to deposit a minimum amount of 250 euros to hire its services. This phishing campaign circulates on large social networks such as Facebook or YouTube and for now Group-IB, estimates that more than 5,000 of the identified malicious domains are still active.
Currently and according to the researchers, the countries targeted by this are the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Norway, Sweden and the Czech Republic. And it is not ruled out that it could reach more countries, since Since at least 2020, the Group-IB protection team detected a similar campaign massive bitcoin scam in Singapore. And he claims that “no matter how old the scheme is, it continues to bring money to scammers.”
THEFT OF DATA AND UNSOLICITED PACKAGES WHAT IS BRUSHING
How the scam works
The main goal of these fake investment schemes is to convince victims to repeatedly transfer funds to the fake investment portal. Usually the victims they promise huge returns on their investments and are shown “how I got rich” stories starring famous people.
The message that appears on social networks such as Facebook (there are Facebook pages created to promote this exclusively) or YouTube makes it seem like there is a very powerful service for earning money online. The messages claim that the service is used by world famous people. This can be anything from Elon Musk (a recurring character in these scams) to local Dutch and UK celebrities. Also announces that “only a minimum deposit of 250 euros is needed to start” and thanks to that you can earn up to 700 euros in three days. A bait can be the following:
For example, through YouTube, scammers lure users and they invite you to contact them directly. If a person writes to them directly, the scammer will help you create the necessary profile to start investing, and will also help you make the minimum initial deposit of 250 euros.
They make the person interesting register an account, they bombard them with other people’s success stories, they draw fictional stories. And they encourage them to replenish their investment balance. Researchers say that “scammers socially engineer the victim into making an investment.
Once the victim enters the fake investor’s site, they will see several fake messages from people who have carried out “successful” operations and are in the process of collecting. The scheme is a combination of online and offline techniques.
And it is that when the victim fills out the form, he receives a call from the scammers who provide him with a link to the final investment project with a personal account. In this way they get a closer treatment. If the victim ends up “investing” the 250 euros, not only spends that moneyInstead, fraudsters steal payment credentials from websites like the following:
In the call, the person is close, he asks the potential victim what he would do with the money he earned from the investment. She reminds her that the more she invests, the more she can earn. She reminds him that it is very easy: you only invest 250 euros and see how it works. If she likes her she can continue “earning money”. If not, she is free to withdraw her money back from the investment, as one of the scammers on the call explains. Yes indeed, at no time do they specify what is the “magic formula” that leads to a high return from the investment. And, as in the example, if you refuse to invest in the call, the scammer will feel a certain urgency for you to do so as soon as possible.