This has brought about a unique set of challenges with the criminals turning to this medium to target and perpetrate their crime. Criminals can easily set up fake or duplicate media accounts, readily establish trust and act in a fraudulent manner. Organizations are now using Social Media as a mainstream communication channel to conduct their business.
Imposters with malicious intent are turning to social media as a simple method of social engineering for a variety of purposes. They would normally establish trust and gain a large number of followers by regurgitating genuine news and information, before using the profile for a malicious purpose.
Some of the potential uses for a fake social media profile are to:
- Direct customers to a phishing site to gain login information
- Direct customers to a drive-by download malware site to infect their machine
- Sell communication or a contact list of a company’s customers (followers) to a competitor
- Communicate false information in an attempt to influence the share price of a company, or;
- Simply sell a successful social media profile for a brand back to the legitimate brand owner.
The Costs of Social Media brand abuse
Social media brand impersonation could have a financial impact on a company, but whatever it uses, it is likely to do serious damage to a brand’s reputation. The risks of not acting on social media brand abuse are:
- Financial losses
- Damaged reputation
- Aggravated customers
It is critical that corporations address the potential risks of social media brand impersonation, which could lead to direct financial losses, market share loss, brand reputation damage, and at the extreme, the potential collapse of the company.
Take Control of Social Media
Don’t be caught out by a professional social media impersonator. FraudWatch International provides a comprehensive social media security solution to monitor hundreds of popular global, and localised social media sites for fake social media profiles impersonating the client’s brand. Our monitoring and detection will alert the client to a potential social media impersonated profile for confirmation by the client prior to taking down.