Cynthia Gaston

Trolls like Cynthia Gaston are created to gain the trust and confidence of their target in order to steal their money and information. This is a form of fraud sometimes called a “pig butchering” scam, named for the practice of fattening up a hog before taking it to market. Victims are coached by the scammer to invest more and more money into what appears to be a profitable opportunity, only to find themselves unable to withdraw their funds. These types of scams are very common and often successful, with some victims losing tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to the scammer. In 2024, Americans alone reported losing $5.7 billion to investment schemes like the one Cynthia is running.

Digital scammers build trust and confidence through fake testimonials. These testimonials often feature pictures of luxury cars, beautiful homes, screenshots of banking or investment apps, or even videos of people directly sharing their experiences. We call accounts like Cynthia a crypto-hydra because the accounts providing these testimonials are themselves fake personas and part of the scam. Content shared by these accounts is often stolen from legitimate car dealership or real estate company websites.

It is common for trolls, including scammers, to use the images of women and members of minority communities when building an online persona. This serves to build trust with their target users. Cynthia’s content has been stolen from Katie Haun, a genuine crypto investor and CEO. The profile image was taken from a 2022 interview Haun did with Bloomberg’s Emily Chang. In one post, the scammers took a real October 2024 Fortune Magazine cover featuring Haun and digitally changed her name to Gaston.

There are several warning signs to look out for when it comes to investment scammers on social media. They may contact you out of nowhere, offering to let you in on secret financial knowledge. They often guarantee profits and claim there’s no risk in their investment opportunity, but are vague on the details of how the investment actually works. They insist that time is of the essence and encourage their target to invest immediately. Sometimes, they demand secrecy, urging their target not to tell any of their family or friends about the investment opportunity.

When it comes to investing your hard-earned money, it’s unwise to trust advice given by strangers on the internet and it’s safest to never invest money with anyone you meet on social media. Lots of people want to take your money, only you want to keep it.