Meta’s FIRE pulls thousands of ‘celeb bait’ scam ads off Facebook, Instagram

Meta’s new scam reporting tool for banks – used to warn of celebrity clickbait and other fraudulent ads targeting unsuspecting users in Australia and the UK –has led to the removal of nearly 30,000 fraudulent ads from Facebook and Instagram.

The actions are the result of a new initiative by the tech giant to combat social media scammers through its new reporting Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange (FIRE) tool – already in use by the Australian banking industry and, as of Wednesday, adopted by several banks in the UK.

FIRE is a first-of-its-kind threat intelligence sharing program, allowing banks to share intel directly with the company so it “can stop scammers and protect users,” Meta Platforms announced on its website.

NatWest and Metro Bank are the first banks in the UK to participate in the pilot program – which has been running for six months – with more scheduled to join, Meta said.

“Financial institutions can share unique information with us, which we can in turn use to train our systems to take action against more scams globally,” said Nathaniel Gleicher, Global Head of Counter-Fraud at Meta.

“This work has already seen us take action against thousands of accounts run by scammers, indicating the importance of banks and platforms working together to tackle this societal issue,” Gleicher said.

During the pilot program's first six months, in conjunction with Britain’s anti-fraud initiative StopScams UK, authorities were able to take down a “significant concert ticket scam network” targeting users in the UK and the US.

“We were able to remove approximately 20,000 accounts run by scammers from the 185 URLs shared, which in turn has helped the company to strengthen its fraud detection,” Meta said.

“Whatever you do, DO NOT respond to the various adverts on this platform purporting to show TV interviews with famous celebrities who have made money with AI trading. It’s a total scam!” one X user recently posted along with two examples of ‘celeb bait’ ads.

Whatever you do, DO NOT respond to the various adverts on this platform purporting to show TV interviews with famous celebrities who have made money with AI trading. It’s a total scam!
Avoid the tagged scammers below. pic.twitter.com/6ME9B3qesl

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The UK National Economic Crime Centre supports the expansion of the FIRE program, explaining that "industry-wide problems require industry-wide solutions" and partnership between sectors is key.

Nik Adams, Temporary Assistant Commissioner for the City of London Police, also lauded the program, citing the establishment of the UK's Online Fraud Charter in 2023, a voluntary pledge by leading tech companies “to reduce the risk of fraud and financial exploitation of UK citizens on their platforms.”

'Celeb bait' scams cost users billions

The Australian Financial Crimes Exchange (AFCX), which filed at least 102 complaints with Meta about “celeb bait” scams since April, said the ads would use images of celebrities and other famous individuals – often created using artificial intelligence – to entice customers into forking over money for non-existent investment schemes.

The AFCX said Australians lost a total of A$2.7 billion ($1.8 billion) in 2023 from social media scams, which saw a close to 20% increase from the previous year, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

In Australia, fraudulent crypto ads using images of celebrity actors such as Mel Gibson, Russell Crowe, and Nicole Kidman became so prevalent in 2022 that the ACCC actually filed suit against Meta for failing to stop the ads from proliferating on its social media sites.

Meta is also being sued in the US by Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest for allowing thousands of bogus crypto ads using his image to be published on Facebook.

Forrest charges that he alerted Meta to the deceptive crypto ads using his likeness back in 2019, but many of the ads still remain on Facebook, successfully scamming millions from Australian citizens.

CRYPTO BREAKING NEWS
Meta Must Face Lawsuit Over Facebook Crypto Ads: US Judge. A US judge rejected Meta Platform’s bid to dismiss a lawsuit by billionaire Australian mining tycoon Andrew Forrest over Facebook crypto ads. The lawsuit revolves around a series of deceptive… pic.twitter.com/XWNOFNxXVz

undefined InnovatekMobile (@Neome_com) June 20, 2024

The Commission estimates that nearly 60% of cryptocurrency advertisements on Facebook and Instagram are most likely scam ads.

Since the Commission's lawsuit was filed, Meta has been under pressure to change its practices and take concrete action to help prevent scam ads from appearing on Facebook and Instagram in Australia.

Australia’s lawmakers, with backing from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese are said to be working on a new anti-scam law to be released in the coming months.

The bill, which would apply to social media companies, as well as financial companies and telecoms, would impose fines of up to A$50 million ($34 million) for failing to crack down on scam ads, and other fraudulent practices.

A total of seven major Australian banking institutions are now involved in the FIRE program including, ANZ, Bendigo Bank, CBA, HSBC, Macquarie, NAB, and Westpac, according to a report by the Guardian.