A social media company removed a Facebook page using photoshopped images of Anthony Albanese for a number of scam investment ads.
There were 51 ads with around 1000 to 15000 views on each. This has been pushed by a french music page with 14000 followers.
The ads consisted of very badly edited and photoshopped pictures of the prime minister. These ads were linked to the details of an “investment opportunity” page. In these pictures, the prime minister is being arrested or in front of the media.
The captions read: “Didn’t know the camera was still recording” or “is this the end of his career.”
The site and the ad links are usually to encourage people to sign up. Similar ads with ex-project host Carrie Bickmore have been shown up on Facebook.
Before these scam ads featured Dick Smith, David Koch, Mike Baird, and Andrew Forest, and these people have been getting a lot of attention since 2020. This is the first time scammers have been using the current serving prime minister in a scam.
“We’ve removed the ads for violating our policy,” A meta spokesperson said.
He even said, “scams and scam ads have no place in meta’s platform. They violate meta’s policies and harm the business by negatively affecting people’s experience.”
Facebook parent company meta has been facing lawsuits over these scam posts. The ACCC has launched a federal case.
Billionaire Andrew Forrest has filed a case against meta in Western Australia, saying that it is reckless of the social media platform to allow such scam ads.
The case has been continuing since October last year. A hearing has been scheduled for 13 Jan.
“Beware … 2023, and the financial scams keep on coming more than ever,” Koch said. “They are scams trying to con you by illegally using my image and attributing fictitious comments to me.”
