The Tainan City Criminal Police Detachment and the Criminal Investigation Bureau’s Investigation Unit 8 announced on September 15 a case. A digital marketing technology company registered in Tainan in 2023 produced fake investment ads for a fraud group and ran them on Facebook.

Police investigation identified 36 victims, with total financial losses exceeding NT$55.54 million. One victim alone lost as much as NT$11.39 million. Meanwhile, the company charged the fraud group service fees of more than NT$28 million. Prosecutors and police initially estimated that its illegal gains were close to NT$83.54 million.

Besides the marketing company registered in Tainan, the main suspect also set up a shell advertising technology company overseas. In total, 13 people were transferred to the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office. The main suspect surnamed Li, 36 years old, along with three ad runners, were among the four people detained.

The way this company collects payments is first they collect Tether (commonly known as U), then convert it into cash domestically. This time, the police seized a total of 89,599 coins (about 2.73 million NTD).

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What makes this case troublesome is that the ads being run are not actually posted by the scam syndicate itself. Because if the scam group creates its own ad accounts, they’ll be flagged as abnormal by the platform and disabled quickly.

But unlike a marketing company that was registered back in 2023, has a unified business number, and has real customers, its accounts have ad delivery records and payment history—so in the system, it looks like a normal advertiser.

So what the scam group buys isn’t an advertisement—it’s a “pass that looks normal.”

To make it seem real even after you click the ad, the main suspect also instructed members to build their own accounts, and then purchase large numbers of LINE accounts from overseas companies as the “bot army.” Next, they add these accounts into the fake investment-consultant teachers’ investment groups, taking turns posting screenshots of profits and thanking the teacher for “calling the picks.”

Maybe you’d say, I’m not the kind of person who clicks on those ads anyway.

The people who were tricked out of 52.54 million NTD initially thought the same. But when they saw an ad optimized by a professional pitcher, using the name of an investment consultant celebrity they recognized, they clicked in—and then there was an entire group of people ready to testify alongside them.

From stranger to trust to the harvest—every stage fully applies the logic of a marketing funnel, lowering the psychological threshold for victims’ decision-making.

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This incident came to light because the Ministry of Digital Development monitored the company’s social-media ad payment flow as abnormal. After reporting to law enforcement and prosecutors, the task force requested from Meta the ad delivery and registration information, and only then was the entire chain pulled into view.

But the platform is actually not doing nothing to block it.

Meta said in its report on anti-scam results in Taiwan released on August 27 that from January to mid-July this year, it had proactively taken down more than 3.1 million scam ads in Taiwan and disabled more than 40,000 ad accounts.

Based on my observations, what’s truly worth remembering about this is that scam ads are no longer the kind they used to be—crude, obvious, and you can tell right away. They now have professional marketing firms running the show, legitimate ad account targeting, and purchased bot armies that help act in groups.

Even professionals find it hard to tell. Then the entire scam operation collects money through Tether (USDT) settlements, making the flow of funds difficult to trace. So I believe dealing with this kind of ad can’t rely on eyesight—it has to rely on processes.

No matter which celebrity the ad uses—once it tells you to add LINE first, join a group next, and then have a “teacher” guide you through the steps, don’t go any further.

If you want to buy cryptocurrency, place your order directly in the exchange app you already use. Don’t let anyone act on your behalf, and don’t casually join any groups of unknown origin.

Have you ever scrolled past an investment ad on Facebook with a celebrity’s photo plastered on it? Feel free to share with me~

⚠️ The information above is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice.