Criminals are still using Facebook-sponsored ads to sell fake money… and not all of them are being taken down

Criminals are paying Facebook to advertise fake money packages and the posts are then made available to vulnerable victims, This is Money can reveal.

Tech giant Meta has been criticised for the proliferation of scams on its platforms, which include Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

Earlier this year, we revealed how criminals were brazenly using social media sites, including Facebook, to target vulnerable users and offer them free postage and discounts on counterfeit banknotes.

The adverts showed bundles of £10 and £20 notes, as well as higher denomination euro notes, claiming the fake money was realistic enough to pass security checks.

A criminal sold £14,000 worth of counterfeit notes for £1,200 and £150,000 worth of counterfeit money for £10,000.

At the time, Meta said fraudulent activity was not allowed on its platforms and that “we remove this content as soon as we identify it.”

However, since we contacted Meta, several criminals have continued to use Facebook to divert users to various Telegram groups to purchase fake money.

Telegram is an encrypted messaging service that allows you to send messages, photos, videos and files to your contacts. It also allows you to create groups of thousands of people or channels to broadcast.

Buying counterfeit banknotes can have serious consequences. Those who shell out their money to buy the banknotes risk being scammed if they do not receive their banknotes or committing a crime.

Even if the notes arrive, they have no value and any business or bank that receives one is obliged to confiscate it and report it to the authorities.

Criminals no longer rely on posts on their own pages or in groups, but instead turn to sponsored ads to target the most vulnerable.

Cookies that record which websites you use help deliver the ads you see on social media, meaning those struggling to make ends meet are more likely to be targeted.

It’s relatively easy for criminals to set up these sponsored posts using Facebook’s “ads manager,” which allows individuals and businesses to “buy Facebook ads on any budget.”

A reader contacted us to say that he had reported some of these posts, but Meta refused to remove them.

Meta told our reader: “We use a combination of technology and human reviewers to process reports and identify content that violates our advertising standards. In this case, we did not remove the ad you reported.”

Advertisers on the platform are not allowed to post content that contravenes Meta’s advertising standards, which include advertising illegal products such as counterfeit banknotes.

When This is Money reached out to Meta for comment, a spokesperson reiterated that fraudulent activity is not permitted on its platforms.

Fraudulent activity is not permitted on our platforms and we are investigating the ads that have been brought to our attention.

“We are continually investing in new technologies to tackle this industry-wide issue and we encourage people to report activities like this to us and the police so we can take action.”

However, many of these ads are still up and Meta has not explained why they have not been removed despite being flagged.