Is it Elon or AI? Nomani is here!
The tactic is called Nomani (yeah, that’s “no money”) and combines AI video, malicious ads on social media and email phishing. It started spiking May 2024 and grew 335% by the second half of the year. From May to November, ESET Cybersecurity says they blocked about 100 new scam URLs a day, adding up to 8,500 sites.
STOP! DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR MONEY!
Cybercriminals love AI. A new deepfake scam is spreading on social media. Many people have lost millions to it. Here are the details to help you avoid becoming a victim.
I HATE TO BREAK IT TO YOU…IT’S NOT ELON.
The tactic is called Nomani (yeah, that’s “no money”) and combines AI video, malicious ads on social media and email phishing. It started spiking May 2024 and grew 335% by the second half of the year. From May to November, ESET Cybersecurity says they blocked about 100 new scam URLs a day, adding up to 8,500 sites.
The video features a celebrity or politician (think Elon Musk, etc.) promoting a cryptocurrency investment on social media platforms like YouTube or Facebook. These videos may look like news segments or exclusive interviews and often involve a recognizable figure. The accounts sharing this content usually have many followers and use eye-catching graphics to attract viewers, claiming huge profits with no risk. If you click on their websites, you might just be sharing your information with a scam artist. In the worst case, the site could contain malware that steals your money or personal information.
IT GETS NASTIER…
Most of these tricks end with an “investment manager” calling to walk you through the process of transferring all your hard-earned money right to them. They pretend they’re helping you put it into a crypto investment account. Nope.
If you’ve already fallen for Nomani, you’re at even more risk. Scammers are going after victims a second time, pretending to be law enforcement trying to help recover your lost funds. Just awful.
KNOW THE RED FLAGS
Even if you think, “This could never happen to me,” read this list and store these tidbits away. They could save you someday.
Hey, that’s blurry: Deepfake videos are often in low resolution to hide glitches. If your internet connection is just fine and other videos are clear, move on.
What if the video quality is OK? Look for strange speech patterns, unnatural breathing, poorly synced audio and video, jerky body movements, and robotic-sounding dialogue.
Don’t click: They want to get you off social media and over to their website to plant malware. Solid antivirus software can spy malware tricks you can’t.
High pressure: If an ad says you can double your money by doing nothing, your scam radar should be going off!! No legitimate investment opportunity is urgent. When they pull out the pressure tactics, move on.
No matter the form, get-rich-quick schemes end one way: With less money and more regret than you started with. You have to be smart!
TOP 3 SCAMS TO RUIN YOUR HOLIDAYS
With more and more people engaging in online shopping during the holidays, the criminals are making it harder to spot a scam. Now, fake shipping notices, gift card scams, and online social media ads are just a few of the deceptive ways they are trying to ruin your holiday.
SCAM ONE: FAKE SHIPPING NOTICES
With more and more people engaging in online shopping, fake shipping notices can be increasingly difficult for consumers to identify. These deceptive messages often arrive through various channels, including text messages and emails, making them particularly aggravating and challenging to recognize. This type of scam is particularly effective during the holiday season when so many individuals are eagerly awaiting their deliveries. However, if you pay close attention and observe the details, you will notice that they all tend to follow the same predictable script. Here are signs of a fake shipping scam:
Generates a Sense of Urgency
Usually they will tell you your package is delayed (for some reason) and offers the opportunity to take care of it by clicking the link that they have helpfully included in their message. Here is an example (minus their scam website) I pulled off my phone: U.S. Customs: You have a USPS parcel being cleared, due to the detection of an invalid zip code address, the parcel can not be cleared, the parcel is temporarily detained, please confirm the zip code address information in the link within 24 hours.
Unsolicited Message
If you have ordered items for the Holidays, you may worry that this text/email might be a legitimate notice of failed delivery. However, stop and do not click the link. Instead, check with the place you ordered the product from directly and check shipping status with them. Don’t engage w/ the unsolicited message.
Threat of some “bad outcome” if you do nothing.
Putting a time limit, trying to force you to act quickly.
The web address is usually a random looking that doesn’t match the sender.
SCAM TWO: GIFT CARD SCAMS
This one is easy! Anyone emailing or texting you to buy gift cards and send them the numbers off the back of the card is scamming you. Guaranteed. More info from the FTC: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/avoiding-and-reporting-gift-card-scams
SCAM THREE: SOCIAL MEDIA ADS
Finally, my least favorite category of online content: the ever-popular misleading social media ads. We’ve all seen thousands of these ads to the point where I truly hope we’ve developed a certain immunity to their allure, but there must be people out there who are still clicking on these enticing offers. An honorable mention in this realm would certainly be Wish, Temu, and Shein. The only guarantees with these platforms seem to be that what you see in their advertisements is often not what you actually end up receiving.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON SCAMS, VISIT THE FTC LINKS BELOW:
https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/avoiding-and-reporting-gift-card-scams