Exclusive | Facebook most cited in online complaints for hosting scam ads that cost users billions: watchdog | Latest Tech News
Facebook now accounts for the overwhelming majority of scams on social media, according to an explosive new research – and critics declare it’s because Mark Zuckerberg’s tech giant is more targeted on making money than defending prospects, The Post has discovered.
Last 12 months, Meta forecast it might earn $16 billion – or 10% of its income – by operating scam ads, according to bombshell paperwork obtained last month by GWN. Critics say the eye-popping quantity confirms that fraud has successfully turn into a core half of the company’s business — particularly at Facebook, which boasts more than 3 billon month-to-month lively users.
The paperwork revealed Meta bans accounts only if its systems flag an at least 95% likelihood that they’re committing fraud — an absurdly high bar that invitations fraudsters with minimal policing, critics say. What’s more, the more suspicious the advert purchaser, the upper the charges for posting ads — a supposed deterrent to unhealthy conduct which instead quantities to “pay to play,” consultants say.
Lawmakers have called on Mark Zuckerberg to face a federal investigation over the scam ads. AP
Erin West, a former California prosecutor who has based a nonprofit to fight online scams, said the paperwork show Meta is popping a blind eye to the fraud because it’s a “major moneymaker” for the company.
“To know that Facebook is aware of this and they tolerate it – and in fact, they even command additional fees from the worst offenders – is egregious,” West said. “The practice itself is outrageous, jaw-dropping, unacceptable, but when you think about it story by story, it really becomes horrific.”
SafelyHQ, a fraud reporting platform, has collected more than 50,000 verified complaints from online scam victims. When the reviews point out where the victims acquired scammed, Facebook is cited a whopping 85% of the time, according to data completely obtained by The Post.
Other platforms, including Meta-owned Instagram, Google, TikTookay, and X account for the remaining 15%.
The reviews are only a tiny fraction of the big image, according to Patrick Quade, the CEO and founder of SafelyHQ. The Federal Trade Commission says most fraud goes unreported, and Quade says just 12% of scam victims who submit reviews establish a host web site.
Facebook is cited for hosting scam ads more than any other platform. SafelyHQ
“For 50,000 people to find us and independently document their losses implies a victim count in the tens of millions,” Quade told The Post. “This isn’t ‘cherry-picking’—it is the overflow of a systemic failure that Meta’s own documents confirm.”
Brian Kuhn, a 68-year-old California resident, says he was scammed out of $70 while making an attempt to buy basic vinyl information by James Brown, The Dead Kennedys, Bob Dylan and the Buzzcocks from a “going out of business” sale on Facebook. The sale turned out to be a faux, and the information never arrived.
“It felt a little creepy that they seemed to know my taste so well,” Kuhn told The Post. “I somehow blame myself equally, but that doesn’t excuse Facebook from allowing the thieves to prey on people.”
Meta’s scam advert epidemic has drawn consideration on Capitol Hill, where US Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) have demanded a federal investigation.
“Perversely, Meta reportedly charges higher rates for ads that it suspects might be fraudulent — in effect, imposing a scam tax that provides an additional lucrative revenue stream that it knows is tied to fraud,” the senators wrote in Nov. 22 letter.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the leaked paperwork “present a selective view that distorts Meta’s approach to fraud and scams.”
Just a fraction of people who report scams establish where they noticed the advert in the first place. SafelyHQ
Stone said Meta’s apply of charging suspected scammers more in its advert auctions have confirmed efficient, with inner exams displaying a decline in scam reviews as properly as a slight decline in advert income. The company also not too long ago said it has expanded its advertiser verification efforts.
“We aggressively fight fraud and scams because people on our platforms don’t want this content, legitimate advertisers don’t want it and we don’t want it either,” Stone said in a assertion. “fraudmers are persistent criminals whose efforts, often driven by ruthless cross-border criminal networks that operate on a global scale, continue to grow in sophistication and complexity.”
Over the last 15 months, the company said reviews about scam ads have declined by more than 50%. Meta has eliminated more than 134 million scam ads this 12 months alone.
The inner paperwork obtained by GWN confirmed Meta researchers have been warning for years about the extent of the company’s advert fraud downside, and how it appeared to be trailing rivals in cracking down.
One May 2025 presentation estimated that Meta was concerned in one-third of all profitable scams in the US, the report said. In a separate April 2025 review, the company concluded it was “easier to advertise scams on Meta platforms than Google.”
SafelyHQ’s data exhibits scams are rife all over the nation. SafelyHQ
In October, a Delaware-based Facebook consumer named Betty acquired scammed by a Facebook advert for Laura Geller cosmetics. She said she was suspicious because the products have been low-cost and required PayPal, but determined to buy anyway because the advert featured Laura Geller’s brand and branding.
Instead, she acquired low-cost knockoff merchandise from a Chinese label she didn’t acknowledge.
“Believe me, that’s all you see are ads,” Betty said. “You like one thing or look at something or you make a comment about one thing and then these ads appear. Obviously, some are fake and you can tell that. Some are really good – they’re fake, but you really can’t tell at first.”
In complete, SafelyHQ has compiled more than 5,000 verified reviews of scam ads particularly on Facebook and Instagram.
An adolescent poses for a photograph while holding a smartphone in entrance of a Facebook brand in this illustration taken September 11, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration REUTERS
“The ‘fox’ isn’t even guarding the hen house – it’s charging a toll for other foxes to walk right in,” Quade said. “This is an epidemic. Meta’s system is algorithmically trapping regular citizens in e-commerce scams, while their policy protects $16 billion in scam revenue. The time for voluntary oversight is over.”
Online watchdog Consumer Reports has also called on the FTC and state attorneys normal to clamp down.
The “elephant in the room” is Meta’s reliance on protections provided by Section 230, which protects social media websites from being held liable for third-party content, according to Justin Brookman, Consumer Report’s director of tech coverage.
Policy tweaks, such as including an exception for Section 230 for paid promoting, would power Meta to take motion, he argued.
Meta permits suspected scammers to buy ads at a increased charge. AFP via Getty Images
“It would certainly realign the incentives to make Meta care more about all the fraud and scams and illegal activity on their platforms,” said Brookman.
The real repair, according to Quade, received’t come until regulators start treating high-volume advert gatekeepers like Meta as if they’re financial establishments quite than social media firms.
That might embrace strict “know your consumer” or “know your business” guidelines requiring Meta to correctly vet its promoting companions at its own cost.
“You can’t let the company profiting from the crime be the one in charge of stopping it,” Quade said.
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