Scam victims find same fraudulent ads lurking on Facebook and Google even after flagging them up
- Reference: 1619444713
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/04/26/which_facebook_google/
- Source link:
A third of those reporting scam ads to Google found the same offending ads still present, while the figure was a quarter for antisocial media site Facebook.
In terms of gullibility, of those who told Which? they'd fallen victim to a malicious ad, just over a quarter were duped by something on Facebook, 19 per cent got caught through Google adverts, and a mere 3 per cent were tricked through Twitter.
[2]
The low score for Twitter gives one hope that users don't believe everything they read on the platform, although the relatively high percentage for Facebook is perhaps a little depressing.
One victim, named by Which? as "Mandy", spanked £85 on what she thought were two pairs of boots via a fake Clark's clearance sale on Facebook, only to receive a big box of sunglasses in return. "I've had a lot of back and forth with my bank over the past six months," she complained to Which? "trying to prove that I didn't receive what I ordered."
For its part, Facebook has since pulled the ad and account of the sunglasses sender.
Detailed demographics were not immediately available, and the survey (conducted over four days in February) considered 2,000 UK "nationally representative" adults. 298 reported falling victim to a scam advert. The likes of Bing and Instagram didn't get a look-in, although Which? told The Register that Facebook and Google "had the highest proportions of people saying they'd fallen victim as a result of an advert on these platforms."
[3]
Google told Which?: "We're constantly reviewing ads, sites and accounts to ensure they comply with our policies. As a result of our enforcement actions (proactive and reactive), our team blocked or removed over 3.1 billion ads for violating our policies."
The search giant went on to highlight the methods by which users can flag iffy advertising and said: "We take action on potentially bad ads reported to us and these complaints are always manually reviewed."
Which? begged to differ and noted that 51 per cent of the 1,800 search engine users in its survey didn't know how to report suspicious ads. 32 per cent of victims didn't know how to tell Google about a scam. Which?'s own researchers found the process of reporting fraudulent content somewhat tiresome, remarking that "it involved navigating five complex pages of information."
Asked about this, a Google spokesperson told The Reg : "We have several policies and protections in place for the promotion of financial services as well as a tool for consumers to flag this content directly to us, and if we discover sites that are breaking our policies, we take appropriate action."
[4]
Which? said: "The biggest reason for not reporting adverts that caused a scam to Facebook was that victims didn't think the platform would do anything about it or take it down – this was the response from nearly a third (31 per cent) of victims."
A Facebook spokesperson told Which?: "Fraudulent activity is not allowed on Facebook. Our 35,000-strong team of safety and security experts work alongside sophisticated AI to proactively identify and remove this content, and we urge people to report any suspicious activity to us. Our teams disable billions of fake accounts every year."
Which is all well and good, but it's also closing the stable door long after the horse has bolted.
Adam French, Consumer Rights Expert at Which?, said: "Our latest research has exposed significant flaws with the reactive approach taken by tech giants including Google and Facebook in response to the reporting of fraudulent content – leaving victims worryingly exposed to scams.
"Online platforms must be given a legal responsibility to identify, remove and prevent fake and fraudulent content on their sites. The case for including scams in the Online Safety Bill is overwhelming and the government needs to act now."
In the meantime, we'd urge the usual caution around ads lurking in social media feeds or search results. If something is too good to be true, it probably is. ®
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[1] https://www.which.co.uk/news/2021/04/two-in-five-victims-of-online-scam-adverts-dont-report-to-host-platforms/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YIbjmb6pDE@xWbBXC2dlLQAAAEc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YIbjmb6pDE@xWbBXC2dlLQAAAEc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YIbjmb6pDE@xWbBXC2dlLQAAAEc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
> In the meantime, we'd urge the usual caution around ads lurking in social media feeds or search results.
What are ads and social media feeds? They don't seem to appear on my computer. ;)
> "Online platforms must be given a legal responsibility to identify, remove and prevent fake and fraudulent content on their sites. The case for including scams in the Online Safety Bill is overwhelming and the government needs to act now."
I've mentioned this before, I'm sure, but there is a successful precedent for this proposal so it will work.
Ages ago, before the Internet, scammers used small ads in local newspapers. Over time the proportion of scam ads increased steadily until it reached the point where you simply couldn't trust a small ad anymore and stories of goods not arriving and refund cheques bouncing were rife. Eventually the Government passed a law making the newspaper liable and the scamming pretty much stopped overnight.
There was a fair bit of wailing from the papers in the run up as they tried to claim that small ads were a vital source of revenue but somehow they all managed to survive.
Why isn't this front-page news?
So Which? have done a survey and found that FIFTEEN PERCENT of people have fallen victim to some online scam or other? Jesus wept.
If this is representative, then it means millions of people have been ripped off. IIRC the adult population in the UK is ~50M, so that would be 7,500,000 victims.
Why isn't this plastered across the front pages of all the UK newspapers?
Ads make money ...
what incentive is there for google/facebook to do anything real to remove them ?
Re: Ads make money ...
Because if people get the idea that things advertised on Facebook and Google are scams, they won't respond to the ads in future, and if people don't respond to ads, advertisers won't pay for them.
Surprise, surprise
Let's get real.
Why on Earth should we believe they give a fetid dingo's kidneys about fraudulent adverts? They are fundamentally interested in "impressions" - what the advertiser pays them for. They get paid the same whether or not the ad is fraudulent, and taking down an ad loses revenue.
Re: Surprise, surprise
And the same applies to that other excrescence, gmail.
Google runs half the AI on the planet and it still can't spot an emailed banking scam, even when there are eighteen different indications of criminal intent in the message.
I helped my Mom yesterday.
I am not my Mom's tech guy for her MBP laptop, that's StepDad's balliwick. But when I learned that she was "getting flooded with crap ads", I asked about what ad blocker she was using. Her reply of "Ad what-now?" was all the (horrifying) answer I needed.
I sat down with her, had her Be My Eyes, & helped her download & install ad blocking software for her machine. One reboot later & I knew I'd done good by the fact that I will be enjoying a Mom's home made apple pie for dessert. And now that I think about it, an apple pie for an Apple try is a rather amusing pun. =-)p
I asked StepDad why he hadn't installed an ad blocker on her machine. His reply was "Because she never asked for one?" I wanted to kick his nuts up out the top of his skull. Of COURSE she didn't ask for it, she's not tech savvy you blithering dolt! GAH!
*Deep calming breath*
Anyway, Mom is happy, I'll be happy tonight when she comes over to deliver that apple pie, & my StepDad may find himself sleeping on the couch for awhile for not doing his job.
*Wanders off whistling innocently*