In a world where social media’s influence and abilities are constantly growing, the ability to commit cybercrimes on these platforms will also naturally increase. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a report stating that in the U.S. alone scammers took around $770 million from people on various social media platforms ranging from Instagram to WhatsApp. This is a shocking number, as the rate of social media scams is 18 times more than what it was in 2017.

While much of this can be attributed to the growing prominence in social media in general, perhaps the more important reason for this spike in scams is the fact that the market for online investments has also grown significantly in recent years. Presenting fake investment opportunities has long been an ideal scenario for scammers to act on.

Specifically, it is estimated that of the $770 lost in 2021, around $285 million of that was through the premise of false investments. The nature of investment scams includes anything from stock options, to bonds, to precious metals.

The most significant losses were undoubtedly in the form of cryptocurrency, with the FTC reporting that 64 percent of people who were targeted in investment scams paid their scammers through crypto. This makes sense in that crypto is rising in popularity as well as practical usage, but also because crypto transactions are much more difficult to be traced.

This way, when the victim realizes it is a scam, it is often far too late to go through the security process of reclaiming your funds that may be possible through more traditional banks and payment services. The FTC reports that while all ages were targeted in social media investment scams, people who were under the age of 50 were the most frequently attacked, particularly in crypto scams.