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[bazzy]

Hi All

I am becoming rather concerned by the scams being perpetuated through facebook advertising. I have flagged a number of clear scams being run as such on the platform. and i am seeing the facebook responses that are saying they "do not violate terms of service"

OK so this means they are complacent in these scams and by refusing to act to remove them they should be criminally liable.

I think the laws need to be tightened on social media to make the platforms more responsible for content they are providing. if someone is using their platform to host a scam they should take responsibility and remove that scam not turn a blind eye to it and ignore the report because they are receiving proceeds of the crime.

Its time there is a crackdown on this.

[Al Bundy]

…OK so this means they are complacent in these scams and by refusing to act to remove them they should be criminally liable….

Im taking a wild guess here an assuming you actually mean complicit ?

[bazzy]

Im taking a wild guess here an assuming you actually mean complicit ?

Yeah Firefox spellcheck is fairly garbage

[wotnot]

....now add a tacit observation about ppl....




Et voila, cycle complete =)

[enf]

Theres only one Facebook scam that you need to be aware of.....

FACEBOOK....!!!

Avoid it and you avoid all the bullsh!t and poison that goes with it....

Never been on, never will...

[Uncle Fester]

Unfortunately there is no way to avoid Fakebook.
It has become the pillar of life for the majority of the population and the times I am getting into argument with my wife every time she quotes and believes all the misinformation, particularly regarding 'health advice' from so called 'doctors' posting there has become troubling.
The advertising is scrupulously matched to the user's profile creating offers they can not refuse of things they do not need.

Australia is seemingly standing up to Elon Musk's X but fold when it comes to Facebook.
Too much money and control over ppl's lives is involved with the Facebook mafia, nobody stands a chance if they dare get in the way.
Not even Twiggy stands a chance to get his face removed from all the crypto currency scam adds shown there.

Our society is doomed.

[efab]

Theres only one Facebook scam that you need to be aware of.....

FACEBOOK....!!!

Avoid it and you avoid all the bullsh!t and poison that goes with it....

Never been on, never will...

same here, actually don't have any social media

[bazzy]

same here, actually don't have any social media

I rarely use facebook for anything other than going through cat videos and dog videos but what really concerns me is the likes of my mother who cant easily tell if something is a scam.

It really makes me sick that Facebook is making no effort to do anything about it and is in fact hampering efforts to put a stop to it.

I feel if they wont cooperate with attempts to put a stop to these scams then the government need to make them inaccessible remove them from australian DNS servers so the address just doesn't resolve. if you know how to get around it then your likely to know what a scam is.

at the very least it will make these companies more cooperative.

[enf]

same here, actually don't have any social media

Me neither. I saw in the earliest days af the internet...like usenet...what anonimity could result in....these moguls are poison....

[Jma]

I rarely use facebook for anything other than going through cat videos and dog videos but what really concerns me is the likes of my mother who cant easily tell if something is a scam.

It really makes me sick that Facebook is making no effort to do anything about it and is in fact hampering efforts to put a stop to it.

I feel if they wont cooperate with attempts to put a stop to these scams then the government need to make them inaccessible remove them from australian DNS servers so the address just doesn't resolve. if you know how to get around it then your likely to know what a scam is.

at the very least it will make these companies more cooperative.

It won't make any of them more cooperative.
Facebook doesn't give a sh*t and probably never will, nor do any of the other companies.

Like pretty much everything else on the internet these days it's buyer beware.
Instead of crowing about wanting the government to stop all Australians accessing it, why don't you educate your Mother about the scams?

Tried reporting an item you know is a definite fraud or scam on fleabay lately?
All that happens is you get a reply from their software, seems humans don't even look at the reports anymore.
The reply I got last time I reported multiple scams on fleabay, each reply was the same except different reference numbers.

What happened:
We looked into your report and didn’t find the listing to be in violation of our policy. This determination was made using automation or artificial intelligence.

Report the same fraudulent listing multiple times and the result is the same, nothing gets done, and that's exactly how they want it.
Wouldn't surprise me if facebook's responses are the same or similar.

Forums like this are as close to having a social media account as I'll ever get, facebook and sites like it are a scourge on humanity as far as I'm concerned.

[wotnot]

It won't make any of them more cooperative.
Facebook doesn't give a sh*t and probably never will, nor do any of the other companies.

Like pretty much everything else on the internet these days it's buyer beware.
Instead of crowing about wanting the government to stop all Australians accessing it, why don't you educate your Mother about the scams?

Exactly, had to educate my mum as well about scams (cold calls, sms)...but she never had anything to do with facebook ; she considers it to be for kids...

Complaining achieves nothing ; the dumb/gullible/over trusting/uneducated have always existed, and a fool and their money are soon parted...for hundreds of years ...

The best (recent) example I know of that demonstrates point....folks in this forum will know this scam for what it is.... those 'plugin household electricity savers'...

...15years ago someone complained to the ACCC about the scam....

Can you still buy these device online?...of course you can .... and even a few hundred years later, you can still buy 'snake oil'. You can search google for 'power saver unit' and come across multiple suppliers selling them, and you'll also get many hits from sites pointing out they're a scam. Do ppl still buy them? Likely the answer is 'yes'. because (my previous post) "There's a sucker born every minute"...for as long as the dumb/gullible/over trusting/uneducated exist, they will always be prey to scammers (irrespective of platform).

As Jma points out, the answer is education ~ if you can't teach your mother to ignore the FB ads, then I suggest teaching her how to delete her FB account.

Complaining about it in a post like this, is pointless and what ppl do on facebook... suck it up, be the 'good' son and educate your mother, that simple =)

[bazzy]

Exactly, had to educate my mum as well about scams (cold calls, sms)...but she never had anything to do with facebook ; she considers it to be for kids...

Complaining achieves nothing ; the dumb/gullible/over trusting/uneducated have always existed, and a fool and their money are soon parted...for hundreds of years ...

The best (recent) example I know of that demonstrates point....folks in this forum will know this scam for what it is.... those 'plugin household electricity savers'...

...15years ago someone complained to the ACCC about the scam....

Can you still buy these device online?...of course you can .... and even a few hundred years later, you can still buy 'snake oil'. You can search google for 'power saver unit' and come across multiple suppliers selling them, and you'll also get many hits from sites pointing out they're a scam. Do ppl still buy them? Likely the answer is 'yes'. because (my previous post) "There's a sucker born every minute"...for as long as the dumb/gullible/over trusting/uneducated exist, they will always be prey to scammers (irrespective of platform).

As Jma points out, the answer is education ~ if you can't teach your mother to ignore the FB ads, then I suggest teaching her how to delete her FB account.

Complaining about it in a post like this, is pointless and what ppl do on facebook... suck it up, be the 'good' son and educate your mother, that simple =)

There is a bit of a difference between a one time sail of a box with a blinking led on it claiming to save power and an ad that installs a root kit on your mobile device when you click on it to steal your bank details and passwords.
the worst thing is to the untrained eye this malicious Trojan horse software may look genuine. the problem is the bar of the "dumb/gullible/over trusting/uneducated" now extends to people with university degrees it seems.

I absolutely disagree that continuing to turn a blind eye to this crime and allowing online social media giants to continue to perpetuate it unchallenged is the way forward. If these companies started getting charged with crimes for perpetuating these crimes then there would be an effort to do something for it.

If the government perhaps instead of a law to allow them to block the domain perhaps implemented a social media compliance act that allowed law enforcement to fine them for it, lets say a scam gets flagged and they opt not to remove it the government can then give them 2 weeks to get rid of it, if it remains after that point they can get fined $1000000 per day it remains up and accessible within Australian borders through normal means.

we have ignored the problem too long and its only become much worse.

in 2022 Australia lost 3.1 Billion in scams, that's 3.1 Billion worth of money that is being removed from the economy and directed to criminal organizations mostly operating outside our borders. This effects more than the "dumb/gullible/over trusting/uneducated" because that's 3.1 Billion not being spent at local businesses keeping every day Australians in jobs. so this has far reaching consequences.

now as for corporations if these social media giants allow these scams / criminal behaviors to operate on their platform then they become accomplices in the crime themselves (i am not saying by the act of them existing but when someone reports them and they choose to leave them there be that choice made via automation or human intervention) they should be charged with the crime just like any other corporation engaging in criminal activity.

Ignoring Crime and not allowing justice to be served and by extension it validates it as acceptable in our society and i just can not accept that at any level.

[Jma]

A social media compliance act like you suggest if implemented properly might be a good idea.
But how often do governments implement something properly?
And since when do big multinational companies give a sh*t?
When it hurts their profit is about the only time.
Australia not being anywhere near the top 10 for facebook user numbers on a worldwide scale might not help that situation much either.

The government probably does nothing about it at the moment because they can't, so if they implement something they'll do what they usually do, most likely taking the easiest way out for the government by penalising all Australians, as one example just like they do now with the blocking of torrent sites, and what brought that on?
Corporate greed.

EDIT: Unfortunately rootkits are also buyer beware, just like computer viruses, as it's currently impossible to stop the scammers it's up to users to protect themselves.
Some people with university degrees falling for scams is nothing new, probably going on as long as universities have been giving out degrees.

[wotnot]

This is why I linked the ACCC earlier ...as an example of how big & sharp their teeth are (not)... because this topic comes under their purview ...