Scammers are targeting Cash App users with fake ‘free-money’ giveaway campaigns
Cash App payment service conducts marketing campaigns that offer cash rewards, on social media platforms such as Twitter or Instagram, under hashtags similar to #CashAppFriday and #SuperCashAppFriday. Scammers are taking advantage of this and are targeting Cash App users with fake giveaway campaigns.
Researchers noted that these scammers are targeting Cash App users on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube with fake ‘free money’ giveaway campaign by tricking the users into sending small amounts in return for a big amount, sometimes even ten times higher.
- These scammers are using the same hashtags that are used by Cash App’s legitimate campaigns.
- They are also posting images with transactions allegedly from winners, in inorder to lure victims into sending amounts.
- Scammers also accept prepaid or gift cards are as an initial payment.
- Researchers also noted that these scammers are asking the victims to sign up for services with a provided referral code, that offers money in return.
- However, these are mere scams and the victims will never get any cashback or a reply from the scammer.
When it comes to Cash App scams on YouTube, these scammers use YouTube to promote 'money generators' or 'cash app’ hacks instead of running fake Cash App campaigns.
- Users searching for certain keywords relating to ‘free money’ or ‘Cash App leads’ to videos claiming to promote hacks to get free money on Cash App.
- The videos instruct viewers to go to a certain website that purportedly offers a top-up service where users can choose an amount to be delivered to their account.
- The websites may be focused on Cash App, requiring the users to “search” for the Cash App page.
- The websites then redirect the victims to a page that asks them to install mobile games and play for a specific amount of time.
- After completing these steps, the websites claim the users will receive the requested amount.
“The video creators have doctored the video to show their Cash App incrementing the value of their available funds or merely increasing the money on the screen to make it appear as though the generator worked and they received the money they requested,” researchers noted.