Big Australian banks slam Meta for knowingly profiting from scam advertisements
From Trump to Rinehart, scammers are using AI-generated celebrity images to con Australians while social media giants rake in billions from fraudulent ads.
Donald Trump. Elon Musk. Gina Rinehart. What the US president, Tesla founder and Australia’s richest person have in common – other than immense wealth – is that all three have featured in scam ads.
Scammers are increasingly using artificial intelligence to create mock photos and videos of celebrities and prominent identities to lure investors into dodgy schemes on social media platforms and online.
Australians lost nearly $260m to scams in the first nine months of this year, according to ScamWatch. About half made first contact with scammers online through fake websites, ads, social media and apps, resulting in losses of $122 million.
This week Westpac chief executive Anthony Miller attacked Meta for profiting off scams that cost Australians, governments and banks money, time and wellbeing.
“Meta made $16 billion in ad revenue globally as a result of ads for what were effectively just scams,” he told an economics committee on Tuesday.
“When we’ve identified a scam through engaging with customers we let the media platforms know, but it’s fair to say the response is not always where we would like it to be, and hence why we think it’s really important that everyone has a [regulatory] code they deliver on.”
Mr Miller’s comments were in reference to reports Meta internally projected late last year that it would earn about 10 per cent of its overall annual revenue – or $US16bn ($25bn) – from running advertising for scams and banned goods. The Reuters report also said Meta’s platforms showed 15 billion scam ads each day.
Australian Banking Association CEO Simon Birmingham compared Meta to big tobacco for profiting off social harm and urged the social media company to focus on preventing and removing scam ads on their platforms.
“The exposure of Meta as deliberately profiting from scam ads is akin to when the tobacco industry was exposed as having known but ignored the harms in its industry,” he said.
“These are unacceptable acts of deliberate profiting from human suffering.”
“Meta’s behaviour doesn’t pass muster at any level. As people lose billions to scams, and while governments and banks spend billions trying to reduce scams, Meta is knowingly joining scammers to rake in billions of illegitimate profits.”
More than half of scams detected by big four bank Westpac originated on digital platforms with 17 per cent from social media alone.
Meanwhile NAB has reported a 40 per cent increase in losses linked to social media, websites and online platforms.
NAB executive group investigations Chris Sheehan said scams were a scourge on society that had a devastating financial and emotional impact on victims.
“It’s critical these platforms are proactively detecting scams and understanding who their advertisers are, in order to stop the proliferation of fake ads and scam activity,” he said.
“We need all parts of the scam ecosystem, including all social and digital platforms, working together, sharing data and being vigilant to disrupt these scams.”
CommBank analysis found 1,825 Facebook groups offering to rent or buy Australian bank accounts between August 8 and October 7 this year.
The bank’s fraud intelligence team found on average the group had around 3,800 members over the two month period with one group reaching more than 90,000 people.
Criminals use purchased or rented bank accounts, a practice called mulling, to mask criminal activity.
CommBank group fraud general manager James Roberts said mulling was taking place in plain sight on social media platforms.
“Most scams start outside the banking system – on social media including messaging platforms, telco networks or via email,” he said
“We’ve made some good progress, but everyone – including banks, as well as telcos and digital platforms – must play their part and do more. No single organisation or sector can stop scams.
In February, the Albanese government passed the Scam Prevention Framework that included fines of $50m for social media companies, banks and telcos.
The new laws included sector specific rules that would force social media companies to verify advertisers.
But the laws have yet to come into force and it is unclear whether social media companies, which do the very bare minimum of moderating content and advertising, will actually do so.
Consumer Action Law Centre chief executive officer Stephanie Tonkin said there were currently no real consequences for the publishing of scam ads online or on social media platforms.
“We have a glimmer of hope in the Scam Prevention Framework that could hold these digital platforms to account,” she said.
“But bringing it into force requires Government action, designation of sectors and urgent consultation on rules and codes. Until then, companies like Meta will continue to profit from criminal conduct on their platforms while ordinary people are robbed, traumatised, and left to rebuild alone.”
Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino said public consultation around the next steps of the implementation of the Scam Prevention Framework would take place in the coming weeks.
“I’m aware of the reporting around the percentage of projected earnings Meta expect to earn from scams,” he said.
“It highlights the importance of implementing the Scams Protection Framework, a key priority for the Albanese Government. We need strong protections in place to reduce the harms caused by scams.”
“The Scams Protection Framework will complement other frameworks and reforms designed to tackle financial crime, protect Australians’ money and restore consumer trust in the digital economy.”
A Meta spokesman said the 10 per cent figure in the Reuters story was an “overly-inclusive estimate” and a “subsequent review revealed that many of these ads weren’t violating”.
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Originally published as Big Australian banks slam Meta for knowingly profiting from scam advertisements
