Russian Facebook users have been the victim of another ad-related scam, involving fake advertisements for Telegram’s token and featuring the face of Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov.
Fake Telegram TON Ads
According to a report by Russian news outlet Kommersant, false advertisements for Telegram’s TON token are appearing on Facebook and using the likeness of CEO Pavel Durov to help sell the scam. The example advertisement in the report is a sponsored post from the company “Successful Investor” which leads to a website promoting a fraudulent investment into TON.
The scam site asks users for personal information such as phone numbers and email addresses while promising a daily payout of $150 to $240 per day for customers who are willing to invest in the asset. In the vein of many other fraudulent products, the website guarantees a steady rate of return that is forbidden under most financial regulatory bodies.
However, the scam appears to be taking its investment strategy a step further by using Telegram’s Durov in the advertisement to lure investors.
Facebook has a history of false advertisements on the platform related to cryptocurrency. In August, New Zealand TV host Duncan Garner complained about ads appearing on the social networking platform using his likeness to sell bitcoin and cars.
More recently, Dutch billionaire John de Mol said that his lawsuit against Facebook over similarly false advertisements had reached an impasse after the company failed to cooperate in negotiations. De Mol was among various celebrities who saw their image be used on fraudulent cryptocurrency related ads on Facebook.
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