Since 2022, CloudSEK’s researchers have been tracking a wide net of investment scam instances, where registered trademarks and brand names of major global brands were being abused to propagate fraudulent investment and task-based reward schemes. Due to financially motivated threat actors being able to capitalize on the gullibility of humans with deposit - instant money return schemes, since the advent of COVID-19 Pandemic, it's no surprise that multiple complaints against some of the impersonated brands have propped up on social media and especially on unofficial Consumer Complaint boards on the Internet.

These schemes are also promoted in the guise of “Work from Home Jobs'' and are primarily spread through ads on Facebook, Instagram and videos on Youtube. Youtube, as a medium, has started to be abused for targeted investment scam attempts against Organizations since 2022, according to our research, which corresponds with inputs from Google Trends. Over time, it progresses into an MLM Scheme requiring existing investors to refer acquaintances to gain referral bonuses and in hindsight, increasing the count of victims and the illicit proceeds harvested from the scam.