During 2021 scammers managed to steal as much as USD 770 million in social media. It was reported by the US Federal Trade Commission, where the figure has more than doubled from USD 258 million in 2020.
It is not clear why there is such a significant increase in 2021. However, it is noted that these thefts have soared over the last five years.
The report also says that there has been a massive spike in fraud related to fake cryptocurrency investments. In fact, this investment fraud contributed nearly USD 285 million.
Romance-related scams have also risen to their highest levels in recent years. The FTC says scams of this category often start with a friend request from a stranger who appears to be in good standing, followed by sweet chatter, and then inevitably leads to a request for money.
Apart from that there are also scams related to online shopping which mostly involve undelivered goods which are purchased from advertisements on social media. For the record Facebook and Instagram are the two platforms mentioned in the report.
"More than a third of people who said they lost money to online romance scams in 2021 said it started on Facebook or Instagram," the FTC report reads as quoted by Engadget.
Likewise, the FTC said that Facebook and Instagram were the most frequently cited platforms for undelivered goods reports, with two apps cited in 9 out of 10 reports where a service was identified.
"We put significant resources into tackling this kind of fraud and abuse. We also don't just suspend and remove accounts, Pages, and ads," a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.
"We take legal action against those responsible when we can and always encourage people to report this behavior when they see it." he continued.
Interestingly one of the FTC recommendations is that users try to opt out of targeted advertising whenever possible because scammers can easily use tools available to advertisers on social media platforms to systematically target people with fake ads based on personal details such as age, interests or previous purchase.
The agency also recommends users to lock their privacy settings and be wary of any messages asking for money, especially in the form of cryptocurrencies or gift cards.