![]() When contacted by CNBC Make It, a spokesperson from Facebook, Instagram's sister brand, said they'd investigate further. Weeks later, he still doesn't have access to his personal Instagram account - which, until recently, was reposting edited videos appearing to show Andrew endorsing the scammer. He called the police to file an incident report, opened up his side hustle's Instagram account and started broadcasting warnings about his personal Instagram account and the account of the so-called advisor. Andrew entered his username and password, and was almost immediately locked out of his account.Īt this point, Andrew says, he realized he had been conned. The advisor then sent Andrew a link to extract his profits, but instead of leading to Forex, the link opened what appeared to be Instagram's login page. Strange linksĪndrew recorded a video with disclaimers, saying he wasn't endorsing the advisor's services, and sent it to the advisor. Payton says this is the third red flag: Andrew should have recognized the tactic from his own personal experience, "because that's how got hooked – a video posted by his friend." 4. The advisor, who now controlled the accounts, agreed to release the funds - but only if Andrew recorded a video of himself endorsing the process.Īndrew says he initially resisted, because "it's against the CFP code of conduct to provide unsolicited financial advice while promising returns." But the advisor assured him the video would only be viewed by potential clients, and never published externally. Starting to feel uneasy, Andrew said he was ready to cash out. Within five minutes, Andrew watched his $3,000 investment jump to more than $42,000. He gave the accounts' information to the advisor, who sent Andrew a link to a site that appeared to be Forex, an online foreign exchange market. ![]() A consistent back-and-forthĪndrew, following instructions, put $1,000 in a Zelle account and another roughly $2,000 in bitcoin in Cash App. "Sometimes those questions actually make fraudsters abandon the account," Payton says. Who is my favorite NASCAR driver? Who is your favorite college sports team? Or, if you don't have their number, message them asking for a "unique or special" detail. She also recommends picking up the phone and calling that friend directly, in case someone else is controlling their account. "If you're making money, who has time to brag about it? It's like when your friends get hacked and start posting, 'I lost this much weight in seven days.' If it's anything sounds too good to be true, even if it matches your friend's career background, it probably is." "The first red flag is his friend suddenly bragging about what they're doing and how much money they're making," Payton says. So he direct messaged the friend to learn more, and quickly received a personal endorsement of the strategy. Andrew felt suspicious, but intrigued: He and the friend shared an interest in the stock market and cryptocurrency.
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