What does the conversion rate end up looking like for these scams? Pretending to be major media outlets and stealing Amazon's branding is a compelling scheme, but the "just transfer some ETH to us" seems like a brick wall that would really stop the average person. People seem wary of typing their credit card number into a website, and with a credit card you can call your bank and say "meh I didn't really want the thing I bought" and get your money back. But people have credit cards and know that; with ETH, they probably don't have any laying around. So that seems like it would kill these scams dead.<p>Maybe the flow for buying ETH is really simple, and these sellers aren't clear that every transaction is irrevocable? So people think they can reverse the transaction later, and are left holding the bag when they get scammed? Or, maybe these scams have such wide appeal that they rope in enough victims that a 99.9% bounce rate on the payment page is still worthwhile?
I have a special immunity to crypto scams. I simply never have and never will purchase any kind of crypto "currency" until someone can articulate, at a bare minimum, one advantage it confers to me over and above "normal" currency in day to day usage. Bonus points if that benefit even comes close to offsetting the environmental carnage the ecosystem wreaks.
How is Facebook even approving these ads? Is there any human moderation at all?<p>I've reported these multiple times in the past month, and they keep popping up from different profiles.
> These malicious advertisements rely on people’s trust in the Amazon brand and desire to get in early on cryptocurrency initial coin offerings (ICOs).<p>Gosh. I'm doubly-lucky: I don't trust the Amazon brand further than the end of my nose, and I haven't the slightest interest in ICOs. I don't trust Avast either, but I can't remember why.