Security News > 2021 > April > Scam victims find same fraudulent ads lurking on Facebook and Google even after flagging them up

UK consumer watchdog Which? has found that ad giants Google and Facebook are failing to remove online scam ads even after victims report them.

A third of those reporting scam ads to Google found the same offending ads still present, while the figure was a quarter for antisocial media site Facebook.

The likes of Bing and Instagram didn't get a look-in, although Which? told The Register that Facebook and Google "Had the highest proportions of people saying they'd fallen victim as a result of an advert on these platforms."

32 per cent of victims didn't know how to tell Google about a scam.

Which? said: "The biggest reason for not reporting adverts that caused a scam to Facebook was that victims didn't think the platform would do anything about it or take it down - this was the response from nearly a third of victims."

"Adam French, Consumer Rights Expert at Which?, said:"Our latest research has exposed significant flaws with the reactive approach taken by tech giants including Google and Facebook in response to the reporting of fraudulent content - leaving victims worryingly exposed to scams.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2021/04/26/which_facebook_google/