Scam trap on Facebook-Instagram! Greed of high returns or big fraud? Are you also getting trapped?

In Britain, a big allegation has been made against Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. The company had promised that it will not allow fake and illegal money-making advertisements to run on its platform. But investigation by Britain’s financial institution FCA revealed that the company was repeatedly breaking this promise. According to a report published on Reuters, in a week’s investigation, 1,052 such advertisements were found on Meta’s platform which were illegal.

These were advertisements in which people were making false promises about currency trading or risky investments. More than half (56%) of these were people the FCA had already reported to Meta. Meaning the company already knew, yet did not stop those advertisements.

FCA also investigated for the second time. Still the situation was the same – only a few people were running such fake advertisements again and again. FCA says that despite talking to Meta, there was no significant improvement. Meta says that it is trying its best against fraud and takes prompt action on most complaints. But the FCA and others say there are too many fake ads on Meta’s platform.

Fraud has become the most common crime in Britain and many times scams start from scratch. Billions of Meta users around the world are being exposed to advertisements for fake investments, fake bank schemes, illegal gambling and counterfeit medicines.

A new law (Online Safety Act) has come in Britain, but its most important part – i.e. strict action against fake paid advertisements – will not come till 2027. Therefore, no direct penalty can be imposed on Meta right now. In a test, Reuters itself created a fake advertisement in which it was written – ‘Earning 10% every week’. In Britain, Meta allowed it to run without much checking. But the same advertisement was immediately blocked in Australia, because the rules there are very strict and fines can be imposed.

Martin Lewis, who works for consumer rights, says- ‘This is not a technology problem. This is a money problem. If Meta spends more money to stop scams, there will be less scammers. But the company wants to earn more with less expenditure.

Many banks (like Revolut) are also saying that most of the fraud complaints coming to them come from Meta only. A group also investigated and said that there are a lot of fake advertisements running on Meta which use the names of banks to cheat people. Finally, the British government and the FCA are telling Meta – ‘Stop fake advertisements quickly and strictly, so that the common people remain safe.’ But the problem still persists due to weak laws.

This case shows that stopping fake advertisements on social media platforms is still a big challenge. Unless strict rules are followed properly, it is important for users to remain cautious.