58% of Facebook crypto ads are scams?
US Government Transfers 10,000 BTC To Coinbase, Coinbase Returns To Hawaii After 7 Years
According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), more than a half of crypto ads on Facebook are either scams or violate the company's own policies.
Meta was sued by the ACCC in 2022 over alleged aiding of allowing celebrity crypto scam ads, and the hearing hasn't been set yet.
ACCC's preliminary research on Facebook crypto ads shows that around 58% of them could be malicious in one way or another.
The ads have historically used profiles of famous Australians like Nicole Kidman, Chris Hemsworth, Mel Gibson, and others, though no specific figure was cited.
Facebook's Meta responded to the allegations, saying they're constantly investing in the prevention of this and improving.
Statista shows Facebook having taken action on 691 million fake accounts in Q4 2023 (way down from 827 million in the previous quarter and from 2.2 billion in 2019).
Australia, especially this year, is leading with crypto scam victims. Following phishing scams having caused $4B in losses, Chainalysis and the Australian Police have joined the global campaign to tackle this.
HSBC Australia is set to block all payments to crypto exchanges because of the massive number of scams.
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