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Scammers Target Belarusians on Social Media in 2022
In 2022, social media platforms have become a breeding ground for scammers targeting Belarusians with various fraudulent activities. The most common methods include impersonation, social engineering, phishing, and fraudulent investment schemes.
Criminals create fake profiles and impersonate trusted entities or individuals, tricking victims into disclosing personal information or sending money. These scams also include messaging scams over platforms like WhatsApp or Telegram using fake company representative personas backed by forged documents to gain trust.
The scammers systematically gather personal data by analyzing social media profiles to create detailed pictures of victims' lives, vulnerabilities, and social connections. This intelligence enables highly targeted attacks such as relationship exploitation and synthetic identity creation, where real and fake information are combined to bypass fraud detection systems.
In social media investment scams, fraudsters often initiate contact through private messages posing as acquaintances or professionals. They build trust over weeks or months and then persuade victims to invest in fake opportunities, such as bogus cryptocurrencies, using stolen identities or fake profiles of reputable financial professionals.
Criminals also use text scams or "smishing" linking from social media to trick users into revealing one-time passwords or installing malware, further compromising bank accounts or personal data. They exploit peer-to-peer payment apps like Zelle by impersonating bank fraud departments and guiding victims into unwittingly transferring money to scammers' accounts.
To avoid falling for these scams, Belinvestbank recommends not communicating with strangers and immediately filing a report with the police. To protect against scams related to trendy collectibles, the bank advises not to send codes from Telegram or other social media, not to make prepayments to strangers, and not to believe in "free cheese."
In the seafood scam, scammers offer seafood at incredibly low prices on fake accounts on social media. After payment, buyers do not receive the goods. Belinvestbank advises not to return the money if asked by the sender to avoid being part of a scam.
Criminals are also exploiting people's passion for trendy collectibles like Labu and Vacuum, creating fake bots with giveaways on social media. Scammers posing as a "free toy in exchange for a review" ask for a Telegram code, which grants full access to the account. After receiving the code, scammers can take a prepayment for the toy and then disappear after the payment is made.
To protect against this, the bank recommends checking the seller's reputation and reading real reviews, and buying goods from trusted platforms and large marketplaces.
In the case of mistaken bank transfers, criminals exploit mistakes in bank card transfers by "accidentally" transferring money to someone else's card and demanding its return. Instead, Belinvestbank suggests contacting the financial organization's support service and reporting the receipt of an unknown transfer.
Belarusians are urged to be vigilant and cautious when using social media, especially when dealing with unfamiliar individuals or entities. By following these precautions, one can minimise the risk of falling victim to these scams.
- Social engineering and impersonation scams in the banking-and-insurance industry have become a significant concern for Belarusians in 2022, particularly on social media, with criminals attacking online profiles to gain personal data for targeted attacks.
- General news about crime and justice reveals that one popular method by scammers is to exploit individuals' passion for trends, such as Labu and Vacuum collectibles, by using fake bots on social media offering free toys in exchange for a Telegram code, which can lead to financial fraud.
- In addition to the threats posed by social media scams, even seemingly innocuous activities like seafood purchases could hide risks; as seen with the seafood scam on social media, where buyers pay for products that never arrive.
