The rise of digital scams: How crypto and social media have become the new hunting ground for scammers

Khaleej Times

14-02-2025

Pyramid schemes and subprime mortgage scams may be a thing of the past, but drop-shipping, crypto, and the content creator ecosystem of social media have filled the gap. Gen-Z men are falling victim to crypto most of all, which in turn has normalised a gambling culture that hasn't seen such heights with sports betting in decades.
First, look at the phone in your pocket. For the average Gen-Z, your cell phone has been your gateway and barrier to so much in life — from the BlackBerry you picked up second-hand to the next-gen data-sucker with a foldable screen you have now — be it social media, being the first generation to grow up with their parents using cell phones, and then your only method of maintaining community, image, relationships and, logically, finances.
The big thing when it comes to scams is something that is no longer obvious, that is, how scammers these days reach out to you. It's not a Nigerian prince in your email, but a steroid-using blockchain expert that comes up when scrolling social media. This is a generation that grew up in video game chat rooms and social media platforms like Discord and Reddit that craft a much denser echo chamber for the user. When financial success and wealth make it through or are promoted by the algorithm, one has to think that one random crypto bro's business class — and his account with fewer than 10,000 followers — likely hasn't cracked the code on whatever meme coin is dominant.
This gets to the heart of the times we live in, with finances stretched thinner and thinner for so many people, and those same people lacking the same social and athletic investment in sports that are usually produced through watching the game, fight, or contest together.
Maybe this is all my own inherited anxiety around personal finances and the unrealistic fear of ending up in crippling debt. A colleague of mine wrote a great feature about the rise of sports betting and gambling addiction among millennial and Gen-Z men here in Ontario, which correlates to the provincial government's launch of a 'provincially regulated marketplace for private-sector, online sports-betting platforms.'
It's also about the normalisation of financial loss in exchange for gain. 'You need to spend money to make money.' 'It's a sure thing. I only bet on sure things.' 'I know it's a scam, but I could still win.'
But none of that denies the very real possibility of hitting it rich. The lottery, the death of a wealthy distant relative, or even ending up some stock-trading savant though are equally likely as well. Maybe you play just to make a little money; plenty of people consider gambling a hobby that costs them their set amount of cash each month. Other people pay to play once, win, then everything else is just bets off their
initial profits.
And yet the sort of losses people incur adds up, whether overall debt is being driven up with the steady replacement of capital with debt that is in turn traded and sold, or the psychological decline that comes from the proven anxiety and mental health crises that originate with gambling addictions.
So, when it comes to scams, schemes, and offers to hit it rich, expect to see more of it. Expect it personalised, even as you witness the devastation left in its wake.