Across Threads, popular posts are increasingly drawing a familiar kind of reply in the form of nonsense text paired with grainy images and invented headlines about MrBeast.
As Engadget reported, those odd comments are not just random clutter. Instead, they tie into a much broader cryptocurrency scam operation.
What's happening?
According to the outlet's investigation, many of the fake MrBeast replies spreading across Threads are linked to a network behind more than 10,000 malicious "crypto casino" websites.
Infoblox staff security researcher Zach Edwards traced the effort to a large group of scam sites that use promises such as bonuses, giveaways, and "free money" to persuade people to sign up, Engadget said.
Rather than posting clear links in replies, Edwards told Engadget the scammers often conceal website names inside blurry screenshots made to look like articles from outlets including The Times and CNN.
Mark Beare, head of consumer at Malwarebytes, suggested to the outlet that the tactic appears to be tailored specifically for Threads. Meta has said replies account for about half of Threads views.
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To Edwards, the constant variation is part of the strategy.
"This network is a monster for A/B testing," he told Engadget. "These threat actors have potentially figured out that their domains are being picked up too quickly when they embed them in the post, so they've tried this weird process where you bury the domain and you make the person sort of feel like it's a scavenger hunt."
Why does it matter?
Engadget revealed that after entering a promo code or signing up, users may be shown a supposed prize worth thousands of dollars, only to be asked for a credit card, a deposit, or access to a crypto wallet before they can claim it.
These scams do not mean crypto itself is inherently fraudulent. Still, they show how easily crypto branding, hype, and promises of fast rewards can be used to trick people.
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Crypto has its own downsides when it comes to its massive energy costs, although supporters point to how the industry can help fuel clean energy projects. Scammers are undoubtedly using the industry as a pathway to vulnerable customers.
Engadget found that some Threads accounts pushing the scams had collected hundreds of thousands of views over the last month, and a handful were close to a million views.
Some appeared to be newly created, while others may have been hacked accounts belonging to regular users. If these bizarre scam tactics are slipping by detection, they could be picking up victims.
"They're not really looking for long cons, they're looking for quick stakes," Edwards told Engadget.
What's being done?
Meta seems to be taking down at least some of the accounts involved, but, as Engadget noted, the volume and persistence of the posts suggest its enforcement has not kept pace. The scams have been ubiquitous enough to become a meme on the Threads platform.
Edwards and Beare both told Engadget that Meta should be capable of identifying campaigns like this even when scammers hide the URLs.
"It really just comes down to a matter of priority," Beare told the outlet. "If these tactics still work and they work for a very long time, it means ... they haven't been prioritized to be fixed."
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