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The goal is not doing anything to fight blows on its platforms, but what about the government? Dylan Reeve looks for someone responsible.
In August last year, I described my dystopian descent to The World of Facebook Scam Advertising And the seemingly futile attempt to combat them. Contacting the goal directly was fruitless and reporting ads using their embedded tools seemed to do nothing.
Now, eight months later, I’m happy to report – nothing.
There seems to have been no significant change.
My reports, when I can bother, are still found with a cheerful answer “Nothing to see here”, and the flood of ads is still coming.
My collection of fraud ads – ads I’ve seen personally and screen captures while browsing Facebook on my desktop PC – is now in over 320 items.
I don’t capture all the fraud ads I see. I don’t even use Facebook every day.
But most days, when I visit the site, I am confronted with a wide variety of fraudulent claims promising me money, protecting fake products or doing dramatic health claims. Many of the ads feature family faces – Taika Waititi, Peter Jackson, Ashley Bloomfield, Elon Musk, Miriama Kamo, Jack Tame, Christopher Luxon … The list continues.
Many users probably make the ads and ignore them, like the many legitimate ads they see every day. Some people probably don’t even see them thanks to ad blockers running on their web browser. But for a small number of Facebook users, these ads are the first step on a horrible journey that can see them losing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
So when I saw another ad exploring the similarities of the well -known New Zealanders in an effort to attract more victims, I decided to dig again.
The announcement followed a family narrative, suggesting that some celebrities had let out in an live interview the secret of unlimited wealth. Sometimes they are in trouble with the police for doing so, but in this case Miriama Kamo apparently let the cat leave the bag a little earlier.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbb_lybwq74
The announcement features a video – which would start playing automatically to many mobile users – in which Miriama Kamo is being interviewed by Anika Moa. Ai-Moa’s manipulated video interviews Kamo about a previously secret project that could “turn citizens’ financial life by offering a guaranteed income of over $ 45,000 from New Zealand per month”.
The video, complete with the brand of things – perhaps ironic, given the recent editor Three -part series About online-contracting blows explaining that Kamo’s denunciation led to a response by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, after which he appears on the screen, ensuring the New Zealandes that the platform is safe, reliable and guaranteed by the government.
I reported the ad to Facebook and, as always, a week later, they informed me that “use a combination of technology and human reviewers to process reports and identify content that goes against our advertising standards. In this case, we have not removed the ad you reported.”
As I write this today, the advertiser is still performing versions of this ad, as well as a similar segmenting Indonesia users.
So I decided that I wanted to hear the protagonists of this fraudulent financial miracle.
“The first time I realized that the scale of the problem was when I was presented as selling weight loss gums!” For Miriama Kamo, it’s not a new experience to find like the reluctant face of some Facebook or Instagram fraud ad. When we talked on the phone, it looked like the old hat to the nationally recognizable TV journalist.
“It starts to look a little hopeless,” Kamo reflected. She reported ads and encouraged others to do so. She even tried to reach the goal directly about the problem, but saw nothing change. “I don’t want it to seem like I don’t care, because I really do it. But I’m starting to feel a little lost – I don’t know what I can do about it.”
The last announcement, presenting Kamo in conversation with Anika Moa, looked like a climb. “This is probably the most convincing I’ve seen so far, although fortunately, I didn’t have much involvement of people asking me about it,” she says about the clip generated by AI. “It’s probably the most sophisticated, where they have aspects of my voice very good.”
Although this ad does not seem to have given a big splash, at least among those inclined to come to Kamo, other ads using their image were clearly effective, as it is often presented.
“It was really amazing how many people were deceived. Even an ‘aunt’ my said ‘I spent the money, but I didn’t get anything’ that I had to say no, no, you were deceived,” Kamo reported from one of the false products sold with her image. But it was not an isolated event. “I had hundreds of messages from people saying something of ‘this is fake, isn’t it?’ On the other hand, I spent money on it and you haven’t sent my product yet.
At this point, Kamo feels powerless about all this. “I ask people to report the ads. But I ask them to know that it really will do nothing,” she says. Your optimism about the goal, or willingness capacity, to face the problem, is nonexistent. “I have very little faith on Facebook. Zero, in fact. I think Facebook doesn’t give a damn.”
Of course there were images of other people being used in the video that started on this journey.
Although I don’t have Christopher Luxon’s personal contact details on my phone, I have details for your press office, so I sent an and email – optimically I asked the PM personally to talk about it, but knowing that it was unlikely that I also asked SCAMMERS -appropriate image issue and who should be doing about it.
I had the same question I always had about this problem, namely: if the goal is apparently incapable or unwilling to solve this problem, who in the government is responsible for leading them to guide it?
For the prime minister’s office, the issue is especially pointed out, as your image is being used to promote blows. If he cannot take the goal to the task of the matter, should there be any agency or minister who can do so in his name? Can scammers really be able to continue using the name and similarity of the first -minister and exploit government’s authority and confidence to promote fraud?
Unfortunately, I couldn’t get more than a simple statement sent by Email, to be attributed to “a first -the -minister gate,” on -line blows are a growing problem in New Zealand and abroad. As technology becomes more sophisticated, unfortunately, unfortunately, is that the thousands of kiwis are caught each year.
He concluded with: “The first -minister would never endorse a specific investment.”
While Luxon’s office said they scams “flag” with their resemblance that they were informed, they did not elaborate with whom they signaled them.
As for a minister in charge of finding the answers, the government announced in November that Andrew Bayly, in his role as Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, would take efforts to better face the growing question of online blows. However, it was not a little clear Once, Andrew Bayly left the position of his ministerial portfolio What would this effort be.
The answer was revealed last Wednesday when Bayly’s replacement, Scott Simpson, announced the result of a second anti-school round table between the stakeholders of the sector and the government. A decision was made about what would be done … But Simpson wouldn’t say what it was, telling the post: “I don’t want to go into detail at the moment, because I need to inform my parliamentarians and offices.”
Although Simpson would not say, the post suggested that it would be a non-governmental organization administered by banks-consistently through its “verified” entity, created to implement the “confirmation of the beneficiary” for bank transfers.
Without details, I can only speculate, but if the post reports are correct, it seems that the new entity can operate similarly to Netsafe – such as an external entity authorized by legislation to receive public reports and seek any actions that the government considered adequate.
Being led by the banking sector suggests a focus on direct financial transaction pieces of on -line blows, however, many blows deliberately Avoid using traditional financial institutionsAnd there are still many opportunities to have a significant impact closer to the root of the problem, with the proliferation of fraud ads such as those as often found on Facebook and Instagram.
Email hit, Scott Simpson said, “I’m taking my responsibility as a anti-scale minister seriously.” He confirmed that he had discussions with the goal and other platforms about the problem, adding, “I heard the goal and Apple about the steps they are taking to stop the blows and fraud on their platforms.”
As for the future, Simpson pointed throughout Tasmania, saying: “I also reiterated to the digital platforms I would like to see them agree with a Sector Fraud Codelike what they agreed in Australia. ”
It is not yet known whether these efforts will have a significant impact. Meanwhile, it seems likely that people like Anika Moa, Miriama Kamo and Christopher Luxon hope to continue being used as the bait to attract new victims of fraud.
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