More than 21 million Australians have an active Facebook account. That's more than 80% of the total population.

But hidden amongst the status updates, parent groups and photos of your pet are people who love to scam, swindle and con us.

Losses from social media scams reached $95 million in 2023, an almost 250% increase over 2020. Bear in mind that's just reported losses, a figure everyone agrees is likely a major understatement.

And unfortunately, the vast majority of social media scams tend to occur on a platform owned by Meta, Facebook's parent company.

Meta platforms dominate the stats

Scams where contact came from WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram accounted for 76% of all reported social media scam losses in 2023. All the online dating sites combined accounted for just 9%.

In Australia, Facebook and Instagram's combined advertising revenue was between $4.7 billion and $5.1 billion in the year to June 2022, eclipsing YouTube, TikTok, Twitter (now X) and Snapchat combined. A portion of those profits came from scammers who bought ad space to engage in criminal activity.

Scams where contact came from WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram accounted for 76% of all reported social media scam losses in 2023

US-based tech journal Wired estimated that between July 2018 and April 2022, Meta made more than AUD$44 million in ad revenue from networks it later removed from its own platforms for engaging in what it calls "coordinated inauthentic behavior", which includes things like political manipulation and coordinated spam and scams.

We asked Meta if this $44 million estimate was accurate, but the company didn't respond. No one knows exactly how much money Meta makes from scam ads, but the tech giant did tell us it had invested more than $20 billion in enhancing "safety and security" since 2016.

"Meta doesn't want scams on our platforms and we are continuing to invest in tools and technology to prevent them," a Meta spokesperson says. "The safety of our users is of utmost importance, and we continue to work with industry, the government and law enforcement to protect Australians from scams."

The ACCC launched Federal Court proceedings in 2022 against Meta for alleged false, misleading or deceptive conduct for publishing scam advertisements

But we aren't the only ones who think Meta isn't doing enough.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launched Federal Court proceedings in 2022 against Meta for alleged false, misleading or deceptive conduct for publishing scam advertisements featuring prominent public figures such as Dick Smith and David Koch.

The ACCC chair at the time, Rod Sims, said the company failed to prevent the crypto scams and that "Meta should have been doing more".

Mixed results

To test how quick and effective Meta is at removing scam ads from its Facebook platform, CHOICE found three highly suspicious ads and reported them as scams to track the company's response.

Two of the ads were promising thousands of dollars of "guaranteed returns" if you invested in their crypto advice, while the other featured an image of TV personality Robert Irwin promising that he would pay you 500 euros if you downloaded an app.

The third ad we reported remained live for at least four days before being taken down

Of the three ads, two were taken down within 24 hours of us reporting them, including the Robert Irwin ad. However, the account that posted the Irwin ad was allowed to quickly re-post the same ad with the identical image and almost identical text.

That account had over 500 other active sponsored ads that Meta continued to profit from at the time of checking, and some of these other ads were highly suspicious.

The third ad we reported remained live for at least four days before being taken down.

CHOICE's Alex Söderlund says Meta isn't doing enough to protect Australian from scams.

'Platforms can't keep up'

Cyber scam and fraud academic Dr Cassandra Cross from the Queensland University of Technology says platforms such as Meta can't keep up with the scammers.

"Offenders and their ability to keep putting up multiple fraudulent posts certainly outstrips the ability of companies to try and identify and remove them," she says.

Kathy Sundstrom, from Australia's cyber support service IDCARE, says Meta has improved its anti-scam measures in recent years, but agrees there's more to do. The organisation sees 27 cases reported a day involving a Meta platform.

"They need to increase their workforce to be able to respond more quickly. Algorithmic detection of scam activity and account compromise is ineffective," she says.

CHOICE has been campaigning for mandatory obligations on social media companies, including Meta, to do more to prevent scams and support scam victims.

"This is a huge tech company, with some of the best resources to take action in this area, and yet we're still seeing so many scams originate on Meta's platforms," says CHOICE senior campaigns and policy adviser Alex Söderlund.

The protections that Meta is offering its users have not kept pace with the increased threat of scams consumers now face every day

CHOICE senior campaigns and policy adviser Alex Söderlund.

"The protections that Meta is offering its users have not kept pace with the increased threat of scams consumers now face every day."

Australians who use Meta and their various platforms have a right to be safe from scammers. And while it might be impossible to totally eliminate scams, one thing is clear. Meta needs to do better.

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