US Senators Urge Meta To Combat Crypto Scams On Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp
TECHDIGEST – Democratic senators from the US Senate have questioned Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg about the company’s procedures for dealing with cryptocurrency fraud.
Senators Robert Menendez, Sherrod Brown, Elizabeth Warren, Dianne Feinstein, Bernie Sanders, and Cory Booker reportedly made a call to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Friday to ask him what steps his company might take to identify cryptocurrency scams, work with law enforcement, and help fraud victims. Currently, Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram are under Meta’s authority.
According to sources, the group of senators stated, “Based on recent allegations of frauds on other social media platforms and apps, we are worried that Meta provides a breeding ground for bitcoin fraud that does serious harm to consumers.”
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The lawmakers cited a Federal Trade Commission report from June, which called social media and cryptocurrency a “combustible combination for fraud,” noting that about half of the $1 billion in cryptocurrency-related scams in 2021 originated from social media platforms, with the majority focusing on investments:
Much more often than any other payment method, nearly four out of every ten dollars reported lost to fraud that started on social media were lost in cryptocurrencies. These reports listed Instagram (32%), Facebook (26%), WhatsApp (9%), and Telegram (7%) as the leading platforms.
The Democratic senators also requested that Meta provide scam alerts in languages other than English. The senators have asked Zuckerberg to react with specific information by October 24 and a spokeswoman for Meta, Andy Stone, reportedly stated that the social media company invested “significant resources to detect and prevent scams.”
In a similar manner, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation focused on cryptocurrency fraud in a July advisory, alerting users to applications that impersonate trustworthy businesses by utilizing their logos and other identifying details to commit fraud. Additionally, many unwary individuals have been duped on Twitter and YouTube by frauds including hacked accounts, imitation websites, and fraudulent cryptocurrency projects and airdrops.
