The data received from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has shown a high increment of crypto scams on social media.
To this effect, a group of U.S Senators wrote a letter to Meta Platform’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday to inquire about strategies he is putting in place to mitigate the rise in fraud as a result of cryptocurrency use through the firm’s platforms such as Whatsapp, Facebook, and Instagram.
According to reports gotten by FTC, between January and March, most crypto scams originated from social media platforms and have cost consumers a total of $417 million. This fraud comes in various forms ranging from users being asked to invest in investment schemes where they are promised high returns to ‘’ lovers fraud’’ where users are promised love with the sole intent of defrauding them.
Detailed information has been requested from Zuckerberg on how future fraud occurrence through the use of cryptocurrency will be prevented. The pertinent questions raised include strategies put in place to find and kick out scammers, methods to verify that crypto ads are not scams, policies to help the victims of fraud, and how Meta collaborates with law enforcement agents to make sure that scammers are brought to book.
Meta’s Efforts to Combat Crime
Meta had previously mentioned that there is a high propensity for crypto scammers to use its platforms to perpetrate crime. In reality, Facebook outlawed cryptocurrency advertisements in January 2018 because “many organizations are advertising binary options, ICOs, and cryptocurrencies that are not operating in good faith.”
Facebook announced in 2020 that it will take legal action against a Bangkok-based Indian man, Basant Gajjar over an alleged crypto crime because he created and sold software that enables malicious actors to get around Facebook’s automatic advertising review systems and show consumers unapproved adverts.
In 2020, Facebook users also claimed that there was a ban on Bitcoin-related content. Facebook posts that had pictures, text, and videos with Bitcoin tags were restricted from the public’s view.
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