BOI hits out at social media giants for their failure to tackle fake online news stories
Bank of Ireland has issued a warning about an increasing number of false articles appearing on social media platforms designed to defraud customers.
The head of the bank’s anti-fraud department has hit out at social media giants for failing to police articles posted by fraudsters trying to steal unsuspecting people’s money.
The fake articles are designed to entrap customers by enticing them to sign up for fake financial products, investments or cryptocurrency schemes.
The articles give the appearance of news articles from genuine media outlets, however Bank of Ireland has stressed that they are “false advertisements that fraudsters are paying for online”.
Nicola Sadlier, head of fraud at Bank of Ireland, said: “Fraudulent advertisements are increasingly appearing online and on social media channels and are designed to steal consumers’ money through fake financial products, investments or cryptocurrency schemes.”
Ms Sadlier said that more fraud attacks are stemming from social media and tech platforms, adding that the fake adverts should be caught before they are published online.
The advertisements feature fabricated news stories designed to look like they are hosted on genuine news outlets, with claims about specific cryptocurrency trading platforms, or are designed to entice readers to websites where they can then be defrauded.
The false articles or advertisements typically feature a well-known personality or celebrity, combined with a controversial headline to grab the reader’s attention and entice clicks.
One example of a recent scam article featuring Bank of Ireland included the headline “Bank of Ireland sues Micheál Martin for his words on a live broadcast”. It had been mocked up to give the appearance of an Irish Independent report.
A sub-heading below it says “The best opportunity I’ve ever seen for normal and struggled hard-working people to make some extra cash”, with the article enticing customers to sign up to fake financial products and investments to disclose their banking details.
Ms Sadlier said supervision of these fake articles appearing online is “very inconsistent”.
“At times, it’s like a game of whacka-mole trying to report the different scams to the social media companies and get them taken down,” she said.
The bank’s fraud department is urging its customers not to click on such fake articles and to ignore them completely in order to avoid fraudsters obtaining their bank information.
It also says that if an investment sounds too good to be true, “it’s probably fraud”.
Ms Sadlier described fraudsters operating so openly on social media as “unacceptable”.
“No company should be generating advertising revenue from criminals. Social platforms really need to step up and crack down,” she added.
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“It’s like a game of whack-a-mole trying to report the different scams to the social media companies”