Gina Rinehart, Dick Smith petition Mark Zuckerberg for second time over illegal scams

The Australian billionaires have again written a stern warning to Meta over the use of their images which are aiding scammers to rip of users.

Hancock Prospecting chair Mrs Gina Rinehart in WA.

Gina Rinehart and Dick Smith are running out of patience with social media platform Meta as they have once again warned the organisation’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, to act on removing scam advertising from its apps.

“We are writing to you once again with deep concern regarding the persistent issue of scam advertisements and fraudulent content on Meta’s platforms,” the co-signed letter said.

“Regrettably, despite our previous correspondence, it appears there has been no discernable improvement in curtailing these malicious activities.

“In the past month since our initial communication, new scams have emerged, and existing ones remain active.”

Less than a month ago Mrs Rinehart personally wrote to Mr Zuckerberg accusing him and his organisation of doing nothing to stop the promotion of scams and ­“deceptive content” on sites including Facebook and Instagram.

Despite numerous attempts to lodge formal complaints with the company, Mrs Rinehart wrote to the Meta chief executive to alert him to “numerous scammers” falsely using her name and identity online to “fraudulently solicit money from vulnerable people”.

She also wrote on behalf of several other prominent Australians such as billionaire real estate developer Harry Triguboff and Mr Smith, whose AI generated likenesses are being used to encourage people to send money to or invest in dodgy business ventures like crypto currency and diet techniques.

She has not received a reply, nor confirmation her letter was received.

“It is disheartening to note the persistence of these scams, some of which have remained active on Meta platforms for extensive periods despite multiple reports,” Mrs Rinehart said.

This week she wrote again about her image and likeness, as well as that of Smith, being used to “deceive unsuspecting users”.

“These fraudulent schemes continue to exploit the trust of millions of Australians, using the names and reputations of successful and well regarded individuals, including ourselves and several other prominent figures,” Mrs Rinehart said.

According to Mrs Rinehart there are more than 750 “scams” circulating on Meta platforms featuring her image and voice.

“In stark contrast, the one scam of Mrs Rinehart’s on Elon Musk’s platform (X, formerly known as Twitter), as opposed to yours in excess of 750 scams in the same few weeks,” the letter said.

Mr Smith said last month it has been a two year battle to try and have his AI-generated image and voice removed from dodgy online ads.

“This scam has been going on for about two years on Facebook and on Instagram, but this most recent one it’s called deep fake and they’ve actually got my voice, they’ve got Gina Reinhardt’s voice and Andrew Forrest and they’ve somehow put new wording into the voice and then lip sync the whole lot. So you think we’re saying something which we’ve never said.

“They’re flogging a financial scam and Australians, I’m told by the police, are losing millions of dollars over it. In other words, Instagram and Facebook don’t do any checking,” Mr Smith said.

When asked what the next course of action will be following two attempts to contact Mr Zuckerberg, a Hancock Prospecting spokesman told The Australian: “We are waiting for a response”.