Group-IB, a global cybersecurity firm working alongside the UAE Cybersecurity Council, has published new research outlining an international fake investment scam that significantly impacted social media users in the Middle East.

Experts from Group-IB’s Digital Risk Protection team discovered 884 scam pages with traffic coming from Facebook advertisements purchased by the fraudsters. The social media campaign offered users the opportunity to invest in one of 35 market-leading firms, including legitimate financial, insurance, transportation, oil, gas, and construction companies.

Group-IB researchers found English, Arabic, and Spanish Facebook ads. In Arabic-language advertisements, scammers enticed individuals with bold claims that they could “earn millions” by investing “a mere $200” amount.

If a user clicked on an ad, they were redirected to a scam page containing legitimate branding from a prominent company, along with a request for their name, email address, and phone number.

After filling out the form, users would receive daily emails claiming to be from a trading portal. Users would be urged to deposit funds into the fake trading account to begin buying stocks. The scammers would even resort to phone calls if a user didn’t respond. The elaborate con also requested bank details, ID, and passport copies.

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“Retail investing is becoming increasingly popular among individuals who are looking for ways to diversify their income. This particular scam is notable as the cybercriminals leverage multiple communication channels, such as email and direct phone calls, as part of their social engineering efforts. We urge individuals to never share personal information or money with third parties unless you are certain of their legitimacy,” said Sharef Hlal, Head of Group-IB’s MEA Digital Risk Protection Analytics Team.

In total, 60% of the scam pages targeted users from the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region. Based on Group-IB’s research, the criminal campaign is thought to have caused $280,000 in financial damages between March and June 2023.