By 1News Reporters
12:29pm

Westpac said Meta is not doing enough to address the number of scams originating from social media, a problem rising year on year.


"64% of all scam cases we've handled so far this year have originated on
social media, up from 57% at the same time last year." said Westpac NZ chief executive Catherine McGrath in a statement calling out the social media giant on Thursday.


This statement follows a FMA warning about increased numbers of AI and
deepfake articles directing consumers to scam sites.


McGrath herself was featured in a fake article, which was linked from Meta platforms, which showed deep fakes of her clashing with NZ First leader
Winston Peters. The bank lodged complaints with Meta, which the bank said
were ignored.


"Even after we reported the scam ad to Meta, different versions of it
continued to pop up in Facebook feeds for weeks. Meta is not responding
quickly or seriously enough to this sort of harmful content and it's putting New Zealanders' money at risk," McGrath said.

The bank said the ease at which a scammer can publish a fraudulent ad
outstrips the pull-down responses of Meta. It added that this is financially
in favour of Meta to the tune of billions in ad revenue.


"Meta continues to make money from scam ads on its platforms. As a member of the anti-scam alliance, Meta's actions could help take a huge bite out of financial crime in Aotearoa, yet it seems unwilling to do more than the bare minimum," said McGrath.


Westpac said steps Meta could take towards ensuring scam-safety included investing more in fraud detection, acting faster and establishing a direct channel for reporting. The bank suggested Meta work hand in hand with information security professionals (such as bank financial crime teams) to crack down on scammers.

"It's long past time for Meta to step up," said McGrath.


Facebook has been approached for comment.

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