Sponsored Ad Fraud: Mystery Box Scams Flood Social Media

### Executive summary Bitdefender Labs observed a large-scale social engineering campaign on Meta platforms where fraudsters run paid ads for fake "mystery boxes" purportedly from major retailers; victims are lured to mobile-only sites, give PII and card details, and are enrolled in recurring subscription charges instead of receiving goods. The report documents tactics (fake comments, user-agent gating, deceptive fine print), geographic reach (including Romania and several other countries), examples of ad content, and practical mitigation steps for consumers and defenders.