Xinhua
17 May 2025

NEW YORK, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is increasingly a cornerstone of the internet fraud economy, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Friday cited regulators, banks and internal documents.

The company accounted for nearly half of all reported scams on Zelle for JPMorgan Chase between the summers of 2023 and 2024, said the report. The peer-to-peer payment platform is owned by several banking giants, including JPMorgan, the country's biggest bank, and Wells Fargo. Other banks that offer Zelle have experienced similarly high fraud claims originating on Meta.

British and Australian regulators have found similar levels of fraud originating on Meta's platforms. An internal analysis from 2022 described in company documents likewise found that 70 percent of newly active advertisers on the platform are promoting scams, illicit goods or "low quality" products.

"With more than 3 billion daily users on Meta's platforms, fraud is hardly a new phenomenon for the company," noted the report. "But fed by the rise of cryptocurrencies, generative AI and vast overseas crime networks based out of Southeast Asia, the immensity of Meta's scam problem is growing and has been regularly flagged by employees over the past several years."

Current and former employees say Meta is reluctant to add impediments for ad-buying clients who drove a 22 percent increase in its advertising business last year to over 160 billion U.S. dollars. "Even after users demonstrate a history of scamming, Meta balks at removing them," added the report.