Fake ‘get rich quick’ schemes circulating on Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, TSB warns

Social media users are being warned to steer clear of fake “get rich quick” schemes circulating on major platforms, including Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram.

TSB has said 80% of scams that come through these Meta-owned companies account for around 80% of its fraud cases within the three biggest fraud categories at the bank. This includes purchase, impersonation and investment fraud by case load/volume.

The bank is urging people to be wary of unsolicited messages claiming to be from family or close friends, and advises that recipients contact the person in question directly first before ever transferring money to them.

TSB fraud experts also told potential investors to stick to recognised investment platforms and avoid “get rich quick” schemes that are prominent on social media.

The bank launched its own fraud refund guarantee in 2019 and has refunded 97% innocent victims of fraud on their TSB account. But the guarantee excludes refunds for those who have been found to be involved in the fraud themselves, or deemed to have abused the guarantee.

Paul Davis, director of fraud prevention, TSB, said: “Social media companies must urgently clean up their platforms to protect the countless innocent people who use their services every day.

“In the meantime, we are urging the public to remain cautious to potential scam content – and to spread the word to help protect those around you. It’s high time that social media and telephone companies took financial liability for the rising levels of fraud taking place on their platforms.

“Our fraud refund guarantee continues to play a vital, often life-changing role in returning money to innocent victims of fraud, who fall foul due to vulnerabilities in other sectors.”

Meta is taking action by working with Stop Scams UK to help victims by launching a WhatsApp awareness campaign called Stop. Think. Call. It also recently rolled out a new process that requires financial services advertisers targeting users in the UK to be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority.

A Meta spokesperson said: “This is an industry-wide issue and scammers are using increasingly sophisticated methods to defraud people in a range of ways including email, SMS and offline.

“We don’t want anyone to fall victim to these criminals which is why our platforms have systems to block scams, financial services advertisers now have to be FCA authorised and we run consumer awareness campaigns on how to spot fraudulent behaviour. People can also report this content in a few simple clicks and we work with the police to support their investigations.”

It comes as the government earlier this week unveiled a new fraud strategy which will ban cold calls on financial products, including those relating to insurance or sham cryptocurrency schemes.

It also plans to work with Ofcom to use new technology to clamp down on number “spoofing” to prevent fraudsters from impersonating legitimate UK phone numbers. Under the plans, banks will be allowed to delay payments from being processed for longer to allow for suspect payments to be investigated.

The government said it will also ban other devices or methods commonly used by scammers to reach thousands of people at once – such as so-called “sim farms” - and review the use of mass-texting services to keep such technologies out of the hands of criminals.