The North American Securities Administrators Association has played an alarm on Crypto and social media scams, warning that fraudsters are making their strategy to ignore investors.
In March 6 statementBased on a survey of state and provincial regulators in the United States and Canada, NASAA gave green signal to cryptocurrency and social media scams as a top threat to retail investors in 2025.
According to the survey, scammers are rapidly targeting investors in social media platforms. Around 32% of potential scams originated on platforms such as Facebook and X, while another 31% were associated with messaging services such as Telegram and WhatsApp.
Short-form video content has also become a major tool for fraudsters, with NASAA note that platforms such as Tiktok and Instagram Reels are responsible for scams reported by 19% reported. Meanwhile, long video formats such as YouTube and Vimeo created 14% of the total.
NASAA warned that scammers are using these platforms to create “Sleek professional imagery and videos” that legalize fraud investment.
The association also flagged a bounce in scams designed to “play on emotions”, from high pressure to “rich” from the “rich” pitches to romance and intimacy fraud, which is commonly known as a pig butcher scam.
“Criminals of relationships and romance scams are contacted – often appears randomly – and develop relationships before pleading more and more investments. After drying the victim’s bank accounts, the promoter simply disappears with money,” – North American Securities Administrators Association
Leslie van Buskyk, president of Nasaa and Wisconsin Securities Administrator, reminded investors to “check before investing” and see out for opportunities that “feels great to be true.”
Meanwhile, Amanda Sen, co-chairman of the NasaA Enforcement Section Committee, advised the public to look at the status of registration of a unit before attaching.
AI is expected to rise in scam
The association also expressed concern about the use of artificial intelligence in these scams. The survey found that about 39% of regulators are expected to fraudulently expect to use AI-related materials including professional looking graphics and videos to establish incorrect credibility.
Another 22% of deepfac estimates an increase in scams, where criminals have motivated celebrities or reliable data to mislead investors.
In the previous years, Deepfech scammers have seen many known faces such as Elon Musk and Apple CEO Tim Cook to promote fake crypto investment plans.
Research conducted by the Crypto Exchange Bitgate conducted in June last year found that Deepfek scams had increased by 245% in 2024.
Crypto scams have caused the loss of multi-dollars to the Crypto industry till date. Last month, Blockchain Forensic firm Channelis highlighted an increase of 210% in deposits for pig butcher scams in 2024.
According to a separate report by the Web3 security firm Cyvvers, more than $ 3.6 billion pigs were lost to the butcher scams.
