FSMA Sends Out New Warnings
The Belgium Financial Services and Markets Authority has extensively worked on market safety. Continuously they have informed clients of scams operating in their local market. Once again, another series of scams have been noted by the FSMA in Belgium, which included several online programs running with fraudulent behavior. These include BetFlix, Lexus, CFReserve, OmegaFX, OptionsFX, and Trade Idea. These mentioned exchanges have been maintaining falsified advertisements on social media. It features a celebrity, claiming how individuals can get rich quickly by joining one of these several sites.
Consumers foolish enough to click on the advertisement would receive requests for contact details. Afterward, continuous calls would occur from fraudsters in Asia and the Middle East. These fraudsters would offer investment products via virtual currencies and stocks to consumers in the European Union. This isn’t the first time that social media has been used for scamming purposes but does reveal how they’re becoming more sophisticated. Though these illicit advertisements are easy to notice, there are always individuals who aren’t aware of the atrocities committed online.
Social Media Scams
The utilization of social media for cryptocurrency-related scams have grown by 60% over the last decade. It’s an unsuspecting and straightforward way to acquire investors into providing specific account details. This is why the FSMA in Belgium has been continuously providing warnings to residents, hoping that it will inform them of the potential wrongdoings occurring on Facebook and Twitter.
The official statement from the Belgium Financial Services and Markets Authority reads: “These platforms act very aggressively. Scammers even try to persuade the victims to allow them to take control of their computer remotely to make certain money transfers. The fraudsters also try to convince the victims to invest increasingly higher amounts of money. The FSMA therefore, strongly advises against responding to any offers of financial services made by the following new trading platforms.”