Facebook parent Meta Platforms has removed more than 46,500 fraudulent advertisements from its services in the past three months, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Sunday.
The bureau has been working with Meta and other technology firms such as Google to crack down on investment fraud and related scams.
In the second quarter, Meta took down more than 46,500 ads targeting people in Taiwan, while Google removed 1,466 ads determined to be fraudulent — 623 on YouTube and 843 on other Google platforms, the bureau said in a news release.
Photo courtesy of the Criminal Investigation Bureau
In the past few years, social media users in Taiwan have been targeted by numerous ads promising high returns on investments, schemes that are often affiliated with criminal organizations, CIB officials said.
Many of the ads feature celebrities, politicians, financial experts and famous business leaders who appear to be endorsing the product involved in the schemes, which typically involve people wiring money to fraudsters believing they are making an investment.
Several well-known figures whose image has been used in the ads with statements attributed to them that they never made have filed complaints with the police.
With the ads’ rise in prevalence, people have demanded the government take action, which led to the CIB’s collaboration with Meta, Google and other online services. The bureau has set up communication channels with the companies and requires that they remove known fraudulent investment ads within a set period.
So far this year, more than 3 million phishing and fraud text messages have been blocked from mobile phones, while more than 130,000 “zombie accounts” used by criminal groups have been taken down, CIB officials said.
More than 25,000 fraudulent Web sites that attempt to redirect users who believe they have clicked a link from known or trusted sites have been invalidated after being flagged by Domain Name System servers, they said.
The bureau said it has more tools to combat online fraud after lawmakers last month approved amendments to the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法), the Fraud Crime Prevention Act (詐欺犯罪危害防制條例), the Criminal Code and the Communication Security and Surveillance Act (通訊保障及監察法).
The amendments enable the CIB to set up monitoring mechanisms to scrutinize online advertisements, and require Internet service providers and social media platforms to verify an ad’s content, it said.
More cooperation is needed between the public and private sectors to combat investment fraud and scams, and for law enforcement agencies to take tougher action against them, it said.
CIB officials urged people to be cautious about clicking online advertisements.
People should look for indications that it is an investment scam, such as statements about insider information on company shares expected to rapidly rise in value, “limited-time offers,” promises of high returns, free gifts and giveaways, they said.
People can call the 165 anti-fraud hotline to report suspected incidents of fraud.
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