Who’s Scamming Whom? Scam Ad Revenue Surges on Social Media

Scam advertisements on social media platforms are increasingly industrialized, prompting international law enforcement operations from the newly created U.S. Scam Center Strike Force, in close collaboration with the private sector. However, the brunt of scam detection and financial liability still falls on financial institutions despite scams’ frequent origination on social media. After learning about social media platform advertising practices, older adults who assigned responsibility to social media companies for scam ads increased from 22% to 91%, according to the National Council on Aging. This report by Javelin Strategy & Research examines the changing scam-scape of social media, how financial institutions can limit their exposure, and what liability changes are anticipated.

Companies Mentioned:

Bank of Montreal, Chase Bank, Coinbase, EQ Bank, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Royal Bank of Canada, SpaceX, TRM Labs