Exclusive: Calls for Meta to curb rise in scams on its platforms, which will cost UK households £250m this year
- Mental anguish’: how a crypto scam advertised on Facebook cost victim her life savings
- ‘I felt stupid and embarrassed’: victim of ‘Hi Mum’ fraud on WhatsApp lost £1,600
- Instagram scam: ‘I spent £1,200 on clothes for my son that never arrived’
The social media giant Meta is facing growing pressure from MPs, consumer groups and the UK banking sector over its failure to prevent a “tsunami” of fraud on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, where Britons are losing “life-changing” sums every day.
It comes as a Guardian investigation reveals the human stories behind scams that originate on Meta’s platforms, with a nationwide estimate released this week predicting the tech firm’s failure to stamp out fraud will cost UK households £250m during 2023.