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ScamAdviser Coin April Fools campaign.

05/04/2023

144 people enticed into a scam to buy “ScamAdviser Coin” and could have lost $ 11,000.

  • Subscribers to the fake company  ‘ScamAdviser Coin’ pledged to invest a total of $11,010, into the scheme which would have generated a ROI of 4,400% for the scammer.
  • The goal of the ‘ScamAdviser Coin’ April Fool’s campaign was to highlight the importance of forming better policies to make it harder for scammers to defraud internet users.

The company set up.

  1. ScamAdviser paid £12.00 to set-up a fake company at Companies House with Bernie Maddof and Charles Ponzi as directors (both well-known, deceased, scammers).
  2. No verification was done at all.

See the registration here - Read the story below -

UK’s Companies House Facilitated the Scam

  • To create a sense of trust, a fictitious company named ‘ScamAdviser Coin Limited’ was also successfully registered in the UK’s Companies House Registry, using as Directors names the notorious fraudsters Charles Ponzi and Bernard Madoff.
  • Registering the company was just a matter of paying £12 ($15).
  • Within one day the company certificate arrived in ScamAdviser’s mailbox.
  • This is possible as the Companies House website itself states, “Companies House does not verify the accuracy of the information filed”.
  •  However, few, if any people know that Companies House does not do any due diligence.
  • Many people, especially from abroad, believe that if a company is registered in the United Kingdom, it must be legit. Like many scammers, ScamAdviser prominently displayed the certificate for this fake company on the ScamAdviser Coin website to create an illusion of legitimacy.

Promoting the Scam on Facebook and Google

  • ScamAdviser Coin was promoted on ScamAdviser.com’s website and social media channels.
  • On social media, many users immediately spotted the scam. The results were mixed when it came to the users of ScamAdviser.com as many sent emails to ask, “if it is for real.”
  • The fake investment website was even advertised on Facebook for a brief period using a brand-new page with fake information and no post history, before being reported by users. Ads for ScamAdviser Coin were disapproved from Google’s search engine advertising platform citing their policies regarding ‘Unacceptable business practices’.
  • This does not mean it is impossible to promote scams on these platforms as there were several ‘experts’ on a popular freelancing platform who offered to help us advertise the scheme on Facebook for $300, with similar services being offered for Google Ads too. Their advice:
    • You need to buy or “warm up” a Google Ads or Facebook account.
  • After 3 weeks and not using specific keywords like “coin”, it’s easy to promote any kind of investment scam.

The Result: $11,000 earned in 10 days.

  • ScamAdviser Coin only has been up for 10 days.
  • However, many could not spot the signs of a scam as 144 users signed up in 10 days to join the waitlist for the program which was supposedly set to launch on 1st April 2023 - April Fool’s Day.
  • A few things were remarkable.
  • Firstly, the conversion ratio was high.
    • With a mere 1,500 visitors the conversion was nearly 10%.
    • Interestingly, 43 picked the Basic Plan ($50),
    • 62 the Pro Plan ($80) and
    • 39 the VIP Plan ($100).
  • This confirms the marketing saying that if left to a choice, the option in the middle is chosen.
  • With the users pledging to invest a total of $11,010, the scheme would have generated a ROI of 4,400% for the scammer.
  • The goal of the ‘ScamAdviser Coin’ April Fool’s campaign was to highlight the importance of forming better policies to make it harder for scammers to defraud internet users. The scheme saw many doubters and few sign ups through ScamAdviser’s own channels, highlighting the success of the perennial awareness campaigns carried out by the organization.

https://www.scamadviser.com/scam-reports/news-about-scamadviser/4889/scamadviser-coin-scams-the-internet-for-april-fools

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