David Koch launches legal action to take on the threat of ‘out-of-control’ scammers

The TV star has reached breaking point over a series of scams using his picture, blasting social media companies for not doing enough.

A fed-up David Koch intends to take legal action to stop his name and image being used by scammers on social media.

The former Sunrise host told 2GB’s Ben Fordham Live that there had been a surge in online scams using digitally altered pictures of him to lure people in.

Koch said it was time social media companies were held to account for the content they featured.

A fake photo of David Koch used by scammers to draw people in. Picture: X/Twitter

“It’s been happening for years but now it’s just getting out of control,” he told Fordham, before confirming he had spoken to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to try to get something done about the issue.

Koch also said he was considering defamation action against the social media companies who feature the scam posts, saying the scams were damaging his reputation.

One common trick scammers use is to put clickbait-style images of Koch on social media to encourage people to click on them, such as a recent fake picture that shows him apparently battered and bruised.

After clicking the image, innocent victims are encouraged to put their money into crypto currencies and other “dodgy” investments.

WTF… land back in Sydney to this crap all over social media. BEWARE this is scam for those who don’t realize. When are the authorities going to crack down on the platforms carrying these scams @[e-mail]/32hhHcC4Rc

— David Koch (@kochie_online) September 7, 2023

Koch, who stepped down from Sunrise in June after more than two decades and is also chairman of Port Adelaide Football Club, spoke of his heartbreak for a 72-year-old woman who lost $10,000 last month through a scam that appeared in an advert in an app she was using to read the Bible.

Koch has issued several previous warnings to his followers to be careful of scams using his image but said the issue kept happening.

“I report to all the platforms that they (the scams) come on,” he told 2GB.

“They (social media companies) tell me they take them down but then they come back like locusts and I’ve had enough.”

Koch and Fordham expressed their frustration that social media companies were not held accountable to the same standards as “traditional” media outlets.

“We’ve covered stories about vaccine injuries and when you put them up Facebook pulls them down, but on this stuff it’s allowed to be up there and no one’s doing anything about it,” Fordham said.

“I don’t think regulation has kept up with these scams.”