Mark Zuckerbergs Meta refuses to crack down on rampant scams from bogus ads to avoid losing revenue: report
Meta reportedly allowed thousands of bogus ads to run on its platforms while refusing to crack down on alleged cases of fraud to avoid losing ad revenue, according to a bombshell report.The Facebook and Instagram parent accounted for nearly half of all scam complaints tied to Zelle transactions reported by JPMorgan Chase between mid-2023 and mid-2024, according to the expose Friday by the Wall Street Journal.Other lenders that use the peer-to-peer payment app also have received high amounts of fraud claims linked to Meta, people familiar with the matter told the Journal, which spoke to former and current staffers, regulators and banks, and reviewed internal Meta documents.Meta’s platforms — used by more than three billion people daily — have long faced issues with fraud.But the problem has reportedly grown in scale in recent years, fueled by the rise of cryptocurrency schemes, AI-generated content and sprawling criminal operations based in Southeast Asia.One reported scam involved a barrage of deceptive ads falsely tied to Edgar Guzman, who runs a legitimate wholesale business outside Atlanta.Over the course of a year, more than 4,400 different Facebook and Instagram ads used Guzman’s warehouse address to promote steep discounts on bulk merchandise — including pallets of power tools for $29 and boxes of returned Amazon products starting at just $1.“What sucks is we have to break it to people that they’ve been scammed — we don’t even do online sales,” Guzman told the Journal, adding that the fraudulent ads have damaged his company’s reputation through negative reviews.Another nefarious scheme capitalized on the trusted image of global food giant McCormick & Co, the Journal reported.Facebook and Instagram users were targeted with bogus ads promising a free spice rack and assortment of products from the brand, requiring only a $9.99 shipping fee.
The scam lured victims to a site designed to mimic McCormick’s official website, complete with ...