Attorney General Anthony G. Brown today issued an alert about the prevalence of fraudulent investment schemes proliferating across Meta platforms, including on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Scammers are increasingly using deceptive advertisements and “deepfake” technology to lure investors into high-stakes scams to defraud them of their savings. These scams include “pump and dump” scams, confidence scams, and fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes that take advantage of people to extract as much money as possible.

 The Maryland Attorney provides tips to protect investors from scams and urges them to scrutinize social media advertisements before investing. Most reputable broker-dealers and investment advisors do not post specific investment advice on social media platforms. The AG encourages anyone who may have been affected by these types of investment scams to report it to his Securities Division at securities@oag.maryland.gov and anyone harmed by a consumer scam to report it to his Consumer Protection Division at consumer@oag.maryland.gov.

Source: oag.maryland.gov