“I was following this guy on Instagram and he Always his car, a golden maserati, says he is rich that it is He got rich on his own and he is very young, he is only 21 years old“Says Jonathan Reuben, 24, an accountant.
They made a discovery Foreign Exchange Investment Scheme through an Instagram account.
“At first I invested a thousand pounds (R $ 7.49 thousand) and, when I saw that I was making money, I deposited a little more. In the end, I lost 17 thousand pounds (R $ 127.3 thousand)” , Told the BBC’s Money Box program.
Jonathan is one of a growing number of Instagram users who have lost money over alleged social network fraud.
Since the Kovid-19 pandemic began last year, the average reported amount of Instagram fraud reported every month has increased by more than 50%, taking into account crime and cyber fraud statistics from Action Fraud, the UK’s National Police Center Is according to
There was also an increase in the value that users say they lost in these scams. Before the epidemic, the average amount was £ 60,000 (R $ 449,000) per month, but has now risen to 200,000 (R $ 1.5 million) per month.
Gurwin Singh says that he got rich by investing in foreign currency exchange – Photo: Reproduction / Instagram
Jonathan said that the scammer, Gurwyn Singh, a Plymouth man in southwest England, says he has become rich by investing in foreign currency transactions.
Singh then offered users who had the opportunity to interact with him on Instagram.
“he said that Every business I do will be repeated in my account when I do it“.
Jonathan said that Singh promised almost immediate benefits. Jonathan was then Access to an investment platform called Infinox, Where you can analyze your performance.
First, profits increased, and they invested more money. But, he Started doubting after a few months, when he saw his investment in two days.
“I tried to get the money back, but the system said the operation had failed. I asked for clarification, and their excuse was that profits fell due to Brexit (withdrawal from Britain from the European Union). After a few days, all my money was gone and I was no longer able to contact Gurvin or anyone else.“Jonathan said. I made complaints to the police, my banks and Instagram.”
‘People get sucked’
Cyber security expert Jake Moore says such scams have become more common with many youth participating in social media.
“People are sucked in and they want to believe it, they want this lifestyle, especially these days, when young people have a hard time finding jobs,” he said. “Certainly more people are looking for new and different ways to make more money.”
“There are billions of social media accounts, and the algorithms are not yet sophisticated enough, we can’t delegate that control to computers. Social media companies have a long way to go.”
He suggests to social network users that Never include money when dealing with unknown people.
“There are accounts that offer amazing plans to double, triple, or quadruple your money. These are scams,” he said.
The FacebookWho owns InstagramSays that it continuously combines this type of content with spam detection techniques and that it is investigating Singh’s account.
A Facebook spokesperson said, “There is no room for fraud or inhuman behavior on Instagram. A security team of 35,000 people is working to keep our platforms safe, and we block millions of accounts every day.”
The Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates financial markets in the UK, said Singh was added to the list of unauthorized financial agents.
The agency recommended that investors deal only with authorized financial companies.
The Anti-Fraud Police Office said it was investigating Singh’s activities, but there was no investigation.
Singh did not respond to BBC interview requests.
An Infinox spokesperson for the platform used by Jonathan rejected all suggestions the company might have acted without integrity or violated the rules. The spokesperson declined to comment on Singh’s activities as he was not involved with the services offered by Infinox.
