So you’re scrolling down your Facebook newsfeed as you do when an uncommon sight pops up in the middle of your timeline. Yes, it’s a Facebook ad but that’s not the surprising part. It’s what is being advertised and who is on the feature image used.
Online get-rich-quick schemes.
Everyone knows about them and despite the various warning signals authorities have given to ward off the public from falling for these scams, it seems they’re still running rampant.
And the latest prominent figure to have his image misused for these malicious schemes is the CEO of Air Asia group, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes.
The schemes were seen popping up for some Facebook users with various headlines that showed bold statements in an attempt to lure people to press the links. One of them even included a headline saying Tony Fernandes had a secret into making $300 per day (RM1240) from working at home.
“Yes, completely false. I have nothing to do with this,” said Tony Fernandes told the Star Online.
AirAsia, in a statement today, said the sponsored ads on Facebook are linked to articles claiming to quote Fernandes as saying, “They will EAT me alive for this!”, “They’ll take my HEAD, every Malaysian needs to watch this”, “They want my HEAD for revealing this secret”.
AirAsia also urged the public to refer to official social media channels or other credible news sources if they wanted to know more about Fernandes or AirAsia.
“We urge the public to ignore them and to refrain from sharing the articles in question.”
Those who had clicked on the ads found that they were linked to binary options trading scam page. On one of the advertisements’ Facebook page, Malaysian users flooded its comments section, warning would-be page visitors that it is a scam. A user claimed that his friend was conned out of USD$1,000 (around RM4,100) after registering with the website.
The scammers, it is understood, would contact their victim from an overseas number and urge the victim to make a deposit via credit card. This supposedly will enable the victim to open their binary trading account and “make money fast”. However, the scammers will eventually retain the deposit, leaving the victims with nothing.
Air Asia has shared a post clarifying their stance on their Facebook page and Tony himself re-tweeted a tweet that said “You may have seen sponsored ads on Facebook abt @tonyfernandes. Pls note it’s a fraud. Ignore as it maybe malware/ virus.”
So before you get excited thinking this millionaire tycoon is going to give you advise on how to get rich fast without much effort, think again.
Feature Image Credit: Compiled from nst.com.my