Unfortunately, scammers are preying on this need with increasingly sophisticated schemes on social media. How do financial deepfake scams work? Investment scams have been the biggest money-maker for cybercriminals for several years, according to the FBI. These are usually deployed as a lure to trick the victim into either handing over personal information or direct them straight to an investment scam. Others use deepfake Instagram stories featuring banking investment strategists to harvest personal info and/or lure them to investment scam-themed WhatsApp groups.