Facebook Monetization Scam on the Rise in Kathmandu, Police Urge Public to Stay Cautious
चैत ४, २०८२ १६:५८
Kathmandu. Recently, as the competition to monetize Facebook pages and profiles has increased, the number of ordinary people being scammed under the pretext of increasing “views” has also risen. As scammers take money promising to increase views and then become unreachable, the Kathmandu District Police Office has issued a notice to alert the general public.
According to Pawan Kumar Bhattarai, Superintendent of Police (SP), the general public has been searching for individuals or accounts on social media to “boost” their content in order to quickly increase views and earn money since Facebook introduced the content monetization feature. “There are people who pay to boost to increase views,” said SP Bhattarai, “Scammers first make you send money and then disappear after receiving the amount.”
Small business owners and users with monetized content have been especially vulnerable to this kind of scam. Facebook sets certain view thresholds for earnings, and to achieve it quickly, users tend to rely on paid boosts.
Nepal Rastra Bank has provided the general public with the facility to spend up to a maximum of 500 U.S. dollars per year via a dollar card. According to the police, after this limit is reached, users attempting to boost their page or content through third parties have been falling into the trap of fraudsters.
According to the police, hundreds of users lose small amounts of money, even if not large sums at once. SP Bhattarai says, “There are hundreds of people who have been scammed of amounts ranging from NPR 5,000 and NPR 10,000. Victims have now even formed a separate group. The only option is to remain cautious.”
The police have urged the public to exercise caution to avoid such online fraud incidents. SP Bhattarai has advised against sending money to strangers or unknown pages without verification. If payment is necessary, users should verify credibility and conduct transactions only after keeping the proper records or evidence.
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