Aussies demand social media take action against scam ads to protect users

In the digital age, the convenience of online shopping and social media has become a staple in our daily lives, especially for those who appreciate the ease of connecting with friends and family and purchasing items from the comfort of their homes.

However, this convenience has a dark side—the ever-present threat of online scams.

Despite the efforts of individuals and consumer advocacy groups, even digital world giants like Facebook seem to fail to protect their users from fraudulent activities.


Lindsay, from Melbourne, encountered what appeared to be a legitimate Mother's Day promotion for a Smeg kettle on Facebook.

The ad claimed that Coles was giving away the appliance for free, with only a $3 postage fee.

‘I thought it must be legit,’ she said.


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Australians urged Facebook to crack down on scam ads. Credit: Facebook


‘Everyone in the comments was saying, “I’ve done this, and it arrived quickly. I’m absolutely thrilled”.’

Trusting the comments that praised the deal, Lindsay entered her credit card details, only to find out moments later that $282 had been siphoned from her account.

‘I thought at that moment, “This is stupid. What have I done?” Then I checked my credit card statement on my phone,’ she recounted.

‘I felt sick, and I felt so stupid that I allowed it to happen,’


Despite reporting the scam to Facebook, she received automated responses dismissing her claims, and the ad remained active, potentially ensnaring others.

‘I tried again, but you can’t have any dialogue with them or write any comments. Each time, they just come back saying, ‘No, it’s not a scam’.’ Lindsay added.

‘There’s nothing else I can do,’

‘It’s a very limited, restrictive process.’

‘It’s so obvious it was just a bot and that nobody investigated,’

‘Nothing happened, nothing was done.’


Andrea Saunders from Perth shared a similar story.

She was enticed by an ad for an 80 per cent discount on clothing from a supposed Country Road Factory Store.

After placing an order and receiving a confirmation email, she discovered it was a scam when the tracking link led to an error message.

‘I fell for it, hook, line and sinker, and so did many of my friends,’ she said.

‘I felt like an idiot. You’re always reading about people (being scammed), and you think, “Oh my God, how did you fall for that?” But this one was well orchestrated. It looked good.’


Andrea's attempts to report the scam to Facebook went unanswered, and her comments warning others were removed.

‘I heard nothing back.’ she exclaimed.

‘The ad came up on my Facebook feed all the time. So whenever it came up, I would put an emoji face and say, “This site is a scam”.’

Consumer advocate Adam Glezer from Consumer Champion has been vocal about Meta's need to take immediate action to protect users.

‘From what I have seen, Facebook doesn’t take ads that are reported as scams seriously. They write back effectively, saying that the ad has been checked and that there is nothing wrong with it. It’s as if the advertising dollars generated are more important than protecting their subscribers,’ he said.

‘Being the largest social media platform in the world, surely Facebook has a duty of care to ensure their advertisers are legitimate and are not scammers.’


Mr Glezer stated that Facebook needs to improve its ad vetting process to ensure legitimacy.

He argued that if an ad does manage to slip through and is reported, it should be taken down immediately while an investigation is conducted.

‘Meta needs to invest in a large team that vets ads and investigates reported scams, considering the amount they are generating from advertising dollars,’ Mr Glezer added.

‘It’s incredible that they have been able to get away with this for so long. But it has to stop now,’


The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has also taken notice, alleging that over half of the cryptocurrency-related ads on Facebook involve scams or violate the platform's policies.

‘There needs to be actually somebody to answer them, rather than no one taking complaints and concerns and also there be binding external dispute resolutions so that consumers can get redress,’ ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb warned.

‘We do want the code to take into account that if a company does business in Australia, they need to be accessible for Australian customers within Australia.’

The ACCC has been pushing social media platforms to establish mandatory internal dispute-resolution processes and binding external dispute resolutions to provide consumers with redress.


The impact of online shopping scams is significant, with ScamWatch reporting over $5.5 million lost to such scams in 2024 alone.

ScamWatch advised Australians to be vigilant for online sellers offering products at unusually low prices or lacking essential details such as terms and conditions, an ABN, or a privacy policy on their websites, among other red flags.

‘Check that a website you want to buy from has information about privacy, terms and conditions of use, dispute resolution and contact details, plus a secure payment service like PayPal or credit card,’ the website read.

Similarly, A retiree lost nearly $110,000 in superannuation after falling for an online investment scam using the image of Gina Rinehart.

The scam advertised on Facebook appeared legitimate to the retiree due to the presence of well-known Australian figures and the duration of its existence on the platform. You can read more about it here.
Key Takeaways
  • Australians are calling on Facebook to take more effective action against scam advertisements after suffering financial losses from fake online deals.
  • Victims shared experiences of being deceived by convincing ads, including those for discounted products and giveaways, only to be charged significant sums.
  • Despite reporting the fraudulent posts to Facebook, users found that the scam ads remained active and automated responses often dismissed their reports.
  • Consumer advocates urge Meta to improve its vetting of advertisements and take responsibility for protecting users from scammers. At the same time, the ACCC warns Meta over the prevalence of misleading adverts, particularly those related to cryptocurrency.
Have you or someone you know been affected by an online scam? Share your experiences in the comments below.
 
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I believe Facebook is a SCAM. A friend joined me up to try and find my family and I've had nothing but trouble. I tried to delete it and discovered that you can't do that. Another friend has been trying to delete it since her plant nursery closed down. Three years later she's still getting people wanting to buy plants, etc. I've also noticed many ripoffs with Facebook Marketplace. I don't even open stuff they send.
 
When my late wife was still with me and I had to give up work to be her fulltime carer we had the devastating bush fires down south and my wife saw an add on Facebook selling shirts with various photos on the back to raise money for the victims. They were $75 each and as an ex New Zealand firefighter and her having seen and listened to some of the fires that I had attended decided to purchase one. She checked the site out and was convinced it was legitimate and ordered a shirt paid for it and got a confirmation of the receipt. A few days later we received an email letting us know that because of the unexpected demand there would be a delay in supply. That was the last we heard from them even though the add was on Facebook for several month and everytime we tried to contact them our emails came back unable to deliver. It turned out to be a scam.
 
Please everyone Coles and Harvey Norman don't use staff like this, before you buy check their stores online to see if there is a sale of these items, never known either to do this and I have worked for both, Harvey's only use the staff on the tv ads so beware and while you are at it make sure you go into harveynorman.com.au or coles.com.au then search the item, beware of too good to be true sales as they probably are.
 
I would say don't use Facebook at all. You hear nothing but trouble on this platform so if you stay off it you will be fine and think of all the time you will be saving. And also remember the saying, if it sounds too good to be true it probably isn't. The scammers wre just looking for idiots, we have to think better than thrm.
 
There is a regular advertisement on face book claiming to be Sketcher shoes. Just by looking you can tell they are not sketchers. I have quite often put a comment saying that and still the ads are there. As I’ve said before, if I see something that interests me I will check it out on google and the item usually comes up on eBay or TEMU, both sites that I buy from regularly and it’s usually cheaper than what they say on Facebook anyway, and safer.
 
Yes - I reported a Phishing site Ad to FB and got the standard reply dismissing my report as unfounded.
 
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RULE 1 - Never EVER trust reviews generated by a product's website. Better to rely on a totally independent review platform. Same goes for "testimonials". Just look at some wine producer promoted by SDC a few months ago. The reviews were obvious generated by software such as Chat GTP, with reviewers having the same username format such as Jane G. and Roger R. These reviews have the same syntax and the same length. And beware the 5.0/5.0 customer rating from over 300 reviews - a dead giveaway!

RULE 2 - Don't buy online! Simple! Go to a bricks and mortar store and if you can't, just don't purchase the item. You probably don't need it anyway!
 
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I haven't seen those $3 adverts for ages on FB. Thought they had stopped them? The last one I saw was a $3 De Longhi coffee machine allegedly being sold by Bunnings with photoshopped sale signs in a store. And all the fake posts with it saying how quick it was delivered.. It was a bargain etc😂 I reported it direct to them and they seemed to disappear after that.

I don't know why people actually want to buy anything directly that's advertised on FB? Much easier to see what it is and go to the original manufacturer or any shop that sells it. Or Amazon or eBay?

And just use FB for what it was originally for. As it says...
".... especially for those who appreciate the ease of connecting with friends and family."
Personally I wouldn't do without it now.
 
I use Facebook as a member of groups such as art, photography, cultural, healing, cats, and things like that mostly private groups and courses where there is a private group to discuss content or the course run on there again as private.
I don't buy anything, look at any ads etc. It's not much good to me as a social site. My friends use it as I do too.
 
I have also been caught by these very smart crooks. People are always saying that Facebook, the banks, airlines, supermarkets, etc. have a duty to protect people. They don't see it that way. I heard from an exec in such a place that the customer is just a sucker to get money out of. They serve no other purpose and who cares if they get caught. It's all about the money.
 
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I purchased Keto tablets from an 'Australian' company only to have a bad feeling. I Googled it and found it was a company in Las Vegas that had terrible reviews of signing people up for regular 6-week repeats and automatically taking money from your account. All correspondence to them had the message 'it was in the fine print'. I was required to close that account and decided to open a 'trash' account which is empty until I want to purchase an item and will place the exact cost into it. Learned my lesson. And I didn't get the Keto tablets either!
 
I just saw a pop up book “The night before Christmas” with lights and sounds advertised on Facebook For $53.00 + postage. I thought it would be great for my granddaughter’s Christmas Eve box. I looked on EBay and got it for $38 including postage. And I know I can trust EBay
 
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I believe Facebook is a SCAM. A friend joined me up to try and find my family and I've had nothing but trouble. I tried to delete it and discovered that you can't do that. Another friend has been trying to delete it since her plant nursery closed down. Three years later she's still getting people wanting to buy plants, etc. I've also noticed many ripoffs with Facebook Marketplace. I don't even open stuff they send.
Facebook is impossible. You have no come back, can't speak to them, can't ask questions, you get just what they say and that's it. AND mostly they are absolutely WRONG!!!!! Facebook needs to start thinking about its users while it still has some.
 
I no longer trust Face Book. I remain on it because I have contact with people who have the same morals & beliefs that I have. Recently, I was hacked. Myself & other family members put in reports of this hacker but FB sent us messages that they had no information that I had been Hacked! Really? I spent so many hours worrying that my friends on FB would suffer the same thing because of me.
 
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