Instagram & Facebook flooded by Scam Ads on Black Friday: How to Detect Them?

Black Friday has passed yet its effects are still lingering. What turned into a week of massive discounts and raging long queues, both online and in physical stores, is now a prime target for cybercriminals on popular social media networks such as Instagram and Facebook

In this article, we will dive into the rise of Scam Ads in these platforms during Black Friday, the impact on brands and consumers, and discuss effective solutions for brand protection during major cyber holidays and throughout the year.

What are Scam Ads?

Scam Ads are fraudulent advertisements that aim to deceive users into purchasing what they believe are legitimate brands with a heavy discount. These ads can show up on different platforms, including social media networks like Instagram and Facebook.

The rise of Scam Ads typically coincides with cyber holidays, such as Black Friday, as the number of online shoppers skyrockets, and makes it a prime target for cybercriminals.

Types of Scam Ads

Scam Ads can take various forms, such as:

• Fake Deals and Discounts: When thinking of Scam Ads, these might be the first that pop into your mind. In this scenario, scammers create fake ads that offer heavily discounted products to lure customers. However, these ads often lead to Rogue Sites or trick users into providing personal and financial information.
• Counterfeit Scams: Similar to the fake deals mentioned above, some scammers might advertise fake imitations of legitimate products to deceive users into purchasing them, believing they will receive the real deal.
• Phishing Scams: These ads direct users to websites that imitate legitimate platforms, aiming to collect personal and financial information, such as credit card details and passwords.

How Scam Ads infiltrate Instagram and Facebook

Scam Ads take over legitimate platforms, such as Instagram and Facebook, through various tactics. Although these networks employ strategies to detect and remove fraudulent content, scammers are continuously adapting their ads to avoid being detected.

Some measures scammers employ include:

• Fake Accounts: These accounts impersonate legitimate brands to appear authentic, stealing their image and deceiving consumers. The impersonation can go as far as adding a fake verified badge, to add an extra layer of credibility to their Scam Ads.
• Ad Auction Exploitation: Social media platforms use ad auctions to determine which ads to show their users. Scammers exploit this system by submitting ads that, at first, appear harmless, but later modify it into Scam Ads once approved.
• Automated Bots: Scammers program automated bots to create various fake accounts and run Scam Ads, overwhelming the platforms’ detection systems and making it more challenging to distinguish between legitimate ads and scams.

What happened on Black Friday with Scam Ads?

Scam Ads rise during cyber holidays, such as Black Friday, as scammers take advantage of the increased online shopping activity and consumer interest in online deals.

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and other cyber holidays, are a great opportunity for brands selling online due to the high online traffic. However, this also puts a target on their back for falling victims to Scam Ads.

The increased consumer spending makes users more vulnerable to these cyber attacks. Not only are Scam Ads difficult to spot to an untrained eye, but the sense of urgency created around these “limited” and “one time only” deals, make users speed up their shopping process and even not looking over to confirm that they are getting the real deal.

How to protect your brand from Scam Ads throughout all platforms

As the digital landscape evolves, so do scammers’ tactics to trick the system! The surge in Scam Ads amongst platforms like Instagram and Facebook during Black Friday, emphasizes the growing need for effective and immediate brand protection strategies.

Here is where we jump in! At Smart Protection, we take proactive measures and collaborate with the main marketplaces and platforms to protect brands and consumers alike. We use the latest technology to monitor your brand reputation and detect infringements with our cross-channel Brand Protection solution.

As a result, you will have full visibility of your brand online and will be able to take informed and immediate action against infringements, protecting your brand against Scam Ads, not only during cyber holidays such as Black Friday, but all year around.

If you want to receive more information about our Brand Protection services and how we can help you, don’t hesitate to contact us and Request a Demo!