Fake Advertisements Promising Return of Lost Funds Resurface on Social Media

Fake advertisements are circulating on social media, claiming to help individuals retrieve lost funds from questionable investments. These ads often feature manipulated videos of famous personalities and have recently started using Armenian names and faces to bolster credibility.

Specifically, advertisements spreading on Meta’s platforms utilize images and names of people who appear to be of Armenian descent. For example, one widely circulated ad shows a woman named "Angelina Gasparyan," while another features a man named "Georgi Badisyans." They claim to have regained their financial losses through lawyers.

However, in reality, these images have been stolen from the Internet from the accounts of individuals of Armenian descent, and the names are fabricated. The man depicted in the image presented as "Georgi Badisyans" is actually Armen Azaryan, while "Angelina Gasparyan" is in fact Tamara Danielyan. Both have no affiliation with this scam.

In an interview with #CivilNetCheck, Tamara Danielyan revealed that her photo was used without her knowledge or consent. "On August 13, I noticed that my photo was being used in fake ads. I started reporting those posts and asked my friends to do the same," she said.

Tamara noted that she has never lost or recovered money from investments. She urged people to be more cautious on social networks. "It's astonishing that people believe these fake posts. The account is clearly fake—there's no phone number, it’s unclear who’s behind it, what company it is, and even who's running it," she remarked.

These misleading advertisements lead to a webpage at legallawyer.agency/am, which presents itself as a provider of legal services. However, the site contains no information about the company, which is itself a potential red flag for fraud.

This fraudulent website domain, as well as the Facebook page posting these fake ads, were created just weeks ago. There are no contact details or relevant content, and the page called "Legal assistance in Armenia" lists an address in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Interestingly, there is another webpage under the same domain at legallawyer.agency/az targeting Azerbaijani citizens. This webpage contains more content and even a supposed address and company name, but these are also fabricated. This indicates that Russian-speaking fraudsters active in other countries are targeting citizens of post-Soviet countries, presumably leveraging the knowledge of Russian in those regions.

The only option available on the website is to fill out a form with personal details for a call from a "consultant-lawyer." CivilNet submitted a request and soon received a call from abroad, followed by several calls from Armenian mobile numbers. In all instances, the "consultant-lawyer" was a Russian-speaking scammer, claiming that lost funds from online investments could be recovered.