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UK bank TSB calls on Meta to act as scams via Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram soar
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UK bank TSB has called on Meta to take immediate action to protect its customers from fraud, following a surge in the number of scams on Meta-owned sites and apps.
TSB released research showing Meta’s platforms, including Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, now account for 80 percent of cases within the bank’s three largest fraud categories: impersonation, purchase and investment.
The bank warned that social media companies must urgently clean up their platforms to safeguard innocent people who use their services daily.
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Paul Davis, the director of fraud prevention at TSB told to the Guardian: “Social media companies must urgently clean up their platforms to protect the countless innocent people who use their services every day.
“In the meantime, we are urging the public to remain cautious of potential scam content – and to spread the word to help protect those around you.
“It’s high time that social media and telephone companies took financial liability for the rising levels of fraud taking place on their platforms.”
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Impersonation scams originating on Meta’s platforms accounted for 86 percent of cases in that category recorded by TSB between 2021 and 2022, with two-thirds of those incidents coming from WhatsApp.
"Family and friends" Meta scams
TSB reported “family and friends” fraud cases via WhatsApp increased by 300 percent over the past year, and refunded more than 550 victims.
In this scam, a fraudster pretends to be a friend or relative of the victim, gains their trust and then asks for money.
TSB also found 80 percent of purchase fraud cases – where someone is tricked into buying a product or service that does not exist – began on Meta’s platforms.
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Most of these incidents took place on Facebook Marketplace, where fraud cases increased by almost 100 percent over the past year.
TSB refunded 2,100 cases from this platform under its fraud refund guarantee.
Almost 87 percent of all investment fraud cases at TSB took place on Meta’s platforms, with most of them originating on Instagram and Facebook.
TSB fraud experts warned consumers to stick to recognised investment platforms and to avoid social media “get rich quick” schemes.
These findings follow a UK government crackdown on scammers, announced on Tuesday, in response to the surge in web-based fraud, including a ban on technology that enables mass texting of numerous phones.
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Social media companies have previously been criticised for not doing enough to protect their users from fraudsters.
A Meta spokesperson told the Guardian: “This is an industry-wide issue and scammers are using increasingly sophisticated methods to defraud people in a range of ways including email, SMS and offline.
“We don’t want anyone to fall victim to these criminals which is why our platforms have systems to block scams, financial services advertisers now have to be FCA authorised and we run consumer awareness campaigns on how to spot fraudulent behaviour.
“People can also report this content in a few simple clicks and we work with the police to support their investigations.”
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