Crypto fraud: US senators ask Mark Zuckerberg what Meta is doing to stop it
Crypto scams are always a pain in the neck, especially for these guardians of the law. They want answers, and as part of their investigation they are turning their attention to the world’s 16th richest man.
Democratic senators from the United States Senate asked Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, about the company’s procedures to combat cryptocurrency fraud.
The Washington Post reports that Democrats in the US Senate want more details from Meta about how the company deals with cryptocurrency fraud, claiming that the company’s platforms are breeding grounds for fraudsters.
Bob Menendez of New Jersey leads the group of senators, which also includes Sherrod Brown of Ohio, chairman of the Banking Committee, and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
Several of Meta’s sites are particularly popular hunting grounds for scammers, the senators said, despite the fact that “crypto scams are rampant in social media.”
Image: PCMag
Instagram top site for crypto scams?
About 32% of consumers who reported being scammed out of cryptocurrency said the fraudulent activity occurred on Instagram, followed by 26% on Facebook and 9% on WhatsApp.
The lawmakers cited a June 2018 Federal Trade Commission report that described social media and cryptocurrencies as “an explosive combination for fraud.”
According to the FTC report, social media platforms were the source of about half of the $1 billion in cryptocurrency-related scams in 2021, most of which involved investments.
Lawmakers asked whether Meta offers “warnings or educational materials about crypto-scams in languages other than English.”
Andy Stone, a representative for Meta, stated that the scams violate the company’s policies and harm the business. Therefore, it invests “significant resources to detect and prevent fraud.
$1 billion lost to fraudsters
According to a report published by the FTC in June of this year, over 46,000 people have reported losing more than $1 billion in cryptocurrency to fraudsters since the start of 2021. These cons include, to name a few, Bitcoin investment schemes, scams, romance -fraud and phishing.
Bitcoin (70%), tether (10%) and ether (9%), according to the FTC, were the top three cryptocurrencies used to pay scam artists.
Nearly $4 out of every $10 reported lost to fraud that started on social media was in cryptocurrencies, far more often than any other payment method.
According to these reports, the leading platforms are Instagram (32%), Facebook (26%), WhatsApp (9%) and Telegram (7%).
However, meta-platforms are not the only places where crypto scams are common. Twitter has also received a number of complaints about crypto scams and bots.
Recently, cybercriminals were able to pull off a crypto scam by streaming a YouTube video promoting fake crypto investments during a parallel Apple event.
BTC total market cap at $412 billion on the daily chart | Source: TradingView.com Featured image from Vanity Fair, chart from TradingView.com
