Exclusive | Why Facebook is a cesspool of scam ads and its making billions off its phony tax on fraudsters

Facebook now accounts for the vast majority of scams on social media, according to an explosive new study – and critics claim it’s because Mark Zuckerberg’s tech giant is more focused on making money than protecting customers, The Post has learned.Last year, Meta forecast it would earn $16 billion – or 10% of its revenue – by running scam ads, according to bombshell documents obtained last month by Reuters.Critics say the eye-popping number confirms that fraud has effectively become a core part of the company’s business — especially at Facebook, which boasts more than 3 billon monthly active users.The documents revealed Meta bans accounts only if its systems flag an at least 95% chance that they are committing fraud — an absurdly high bar that invites fraudsters with minimal policing, critics say.

What’s more, the more suspicious the ad buyer, the higher the fees for posting ads — a supposed deterrent to bad behavior which instead amounts to “pay to play,” experts say.Erin West, a former California prosecutor who has founded a nonprofit to combat online scams, said the documents prove Meta is turning a blind eye to the fraud because it is 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 reports mention where the victims got scammed, Facebook is cited a whopping 85% of the time, according to data exclusively obtained by The Post.Other platforms, including Meta-owned Instagram, Google, TikTok, and X account for the remaining 15%.The reports are only a tiny fraction of the big picture, according to Patrick Quade, the CEO and ...