Australian watchdog sues Meta over fake bitcoin ads

Australian consumer watchdog sued Meta for misleading Facebook users with fake cryptocurrency ads.

Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) go took legal action against Meta, formerly known as Facebook. Users are misled by false advertisements about cryptocurrencies promoted by famous figures.

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In the case of Australia, these are businessman Dick Smith, presenter David Koch and former NSW Prime Minister Mike Baird.

“ACCC sees advertisements touting investments in cryptocurrencies or other fraudulent programs. Users believe that this cryptocurrency is promoted by famous people. But the people behind the ads are con artists who don’t work with these famous figures.”

Worldwide, the damage is in the millions of euros that users incur when they click on an ad. Fraudsters will then be able to install malware onto one’s device, allowing remote access to one’s phone or laptop. Then it is quite easy to copy someone’s password and, for example, to lock crypto assets.

In Australia, someone has lost more than 450,000 euros due to a wrong link.

According to the ACCC, Meta is not acting hard enough to keep ads off its platform. Therefore, ACCC Chairman Rod Sims believes: ‘Metalah is responsible for these ads on their platform’.

Meta spokesperson told The Block: ‘We use technology to detect and block scammers’ ads and register scammers with our detection system. We intend to defend the ACCC’s allegations in the lawsuit. Until then, we have not released any details about this case.”

Dutch

In the Netherlands there was also a case against Meta that was filed by, among others, John de Mol, Jort Kelder and Alexander Klöpping.

In countries such as the UK, Spain and Singapore, financial regulators are also taking action against these types of false online statements.

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Disclaimer: This is not financial advice. Cryptocurrencies are risky assets.

Rebecca Burke

"Coffee trailblazer. Analyst. General music geek. Bacon maven. Devoted organizer. Incurable internet ninja. Entrepreneur."

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