- As much as 16 % of UK crime originates on Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram
- These vast social media networks are all owned by just one tech titan - Meta
- More than half a million victims a year are losing money to Meta scams
- Firms accused of failing to take simple measures that would protect users
The shocking scale of fraud that originates on social media sites can be exposed by Money Mail today.
Our investigations have found that scams on Facebook, WhatsApp or Instagram — all platforms owned by the social media behemoth Meta — account for an astonishing 16 per cent of all the crimes recorded in the UK.
A total of 1.1 million people fell victim to scams that could be traced back to the social media giant’s platforms.
That means more crime originates from Meta alone than the combined number of cases of robbery, burglary, homicide and knife violence in the UK each year.
Most victims lost thousands of pounds to crooks. Some will have managed to persuade their bank to reimburse them, particularly if they can prove the bank should have spotted a fraudulent payment.
Bank industry insiders say platforms such as Facebook and TikTok take no responsibility for fraud — and effectively turn a blind eye to the epidemic of scam posts.
Money Mail is today launching a campaign to force them into action.
Our Stop the Social Media Scammers calls on the tech giants to:
- Pay towards the cost of reimbursing victims who lose money after falling for scams originating on their platforms;
- Introduce tougher identity verification measures to stop fraudsters setting up social media accounts;
- Ensure sales sites such as Facebook Marketplace offer users secure payment systems to buy and sell;
- Face fines from the financial watchdog if they fail to stick to tough new regulations.
Every day thousands of victims are tricked into handing over their savings.
The most common include victims losing their life savings in romance scams to fraudsters they meet on Facebook.
Others are swindled when they buy goods on Facebook Marketplace that never show up. Many victims lose millions of pounds to investment scams that lure the unsuspecting on Facebook and Instagram.
Social media giants are not sufficiently verifying the identities of the people and companies who want to buy or sell on their platforms. So accounts run by criminals are not being weeded out quickly enough.
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HOW THIS IS MONEY CAN HELP
In some cases, they do not offer secure payment systems, so customers lack protection when buying items advertised by other users.
For example, if a customer sends money to a seller or makes an investment via PayPal or Amazon, there is some protection if things go wrong.
However, if they send money by bank transfer to a fraudster or a fake investment company, there’s no legal protection.
Experts say that if social media companies were forced to cover some of the costs of reimbursing victims, it would give them a huge imperative to take action.
Alternatively, social media companies could be asked to pay into a fund used to tackle scams.
We believe everyone has to play their part in the battle against fraud — and for too long social media giants have shrugged off their responsibility.
What’s more, heavyweight politicians and Britain’s biggest banks agree with us — and back our campaign to make social media companies take responsibility.
We also want social media firms to publish data on fraud and scams on their platforms. That way, they can be held to account and pressured into taking action.
Anti-fraud ‘champion’ and MP Anthony Browne says the UK is facing an ‘avalanche of scams’, and tech giants must step up and protect their users.
Mr Browne, who has been tasked by Rishi Sunak with reducing fraud in the UK, says: ‘British people are being hit with an avalanche of scams, causing untold financial misery, and the majority is online.
‘The huge tech firms — the richest, most technologically advanced companies that have ever existed — must protect their users. I am determined to make sure they put systems in place to stop scams.’
David Postings, boss of industry body UK Finance, has accused social media giants of aiding fraudsters and profiting from online investment scams.
He says: ‘Tech companies don’t contribute a penny towards reimbursing victims of fraud. Until they have some financial skin in the game, why would they do anything?’
Britain’s major banks have remained largely silent on the role of social media in fraud. But today they come out in force to support our campaign.
NatWest, TSB, Lloyds, Nationwide, Barclays and Santander have criticised Meta — the empire controlled by billionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg — for being the UK’s largest source of fraud.
TSB’s director of fraud prevention, Paul Davis, says: ‘Meta must urgently clean up its platforms.’ Meanwhile, Lloyds Banking Group estimates that every seven minutes someone in the UK falls victim to a shopping scam on Facebook and Instagram.
And Santander reports that 70 per cent of purchase scams originate on the same two social media platforms.
Mike Regnier, chief executive at Santander UK, says: ‘We have not seen enough action from the companies who own them to protect users and cut off the criminals at source, and not enough commitment from the Government to hold them to account.’
Lucy Castledine, of watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority, says that while there have been some improvements, tech firms must be more pro-active in removing criminal content, and make it easier to report scams.
A Meta spokesman says: ‘We recognise the important role we must play in tackling this industry-wide issue. We don’t want anyone to fall victim to these criminals, which is why we have systems to block scams and financial services advertisers now have to be FCA authorised.
‘Scammers are using increasingly sophisticated methods to defraud people, which is why we run campaigns on how to spot fraud. Our work is never done and we encourage anyone who spots a scam to report it in a few simple clicks.’
To calculate the scale of social media fraud, Money Mail analysed official data and figures sent to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt by trade body UK Finance.
According to the Office for National Statistics, 6.6 million crimes were recorded by the police in the year to September 2022, 3.7million of which related to fraud — so fraud accounted for 56 per cent of all UK crime.
Half of all fraud cases are linked to authorised pushed payments (APP fraud) — where payments are sent under false pretences.
Official data sent to the Government by UK Finance last month in a letter seen by our reporters shows 61 per cent of all APP fraud cases originated on Meta.
That means that more than 1.1 million people fell victim to crime on the social media giant’s platforms last year.
That is more than all cases of robbery, burglary, homicide and knife violence combined – of which there were 529,000 recorded incidents.
j.beard@dailymail.co.uk
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