Facebook tool to help weed out fake celebrity ads
Facebook has launched a new reporting tool to help New Zealanders flag misleading, celebrity-bait advertisements.
The ads use images of public figures to encourage users to sign up to investment schemes or buy beauty products, for example. Users then struggle to get out of payment schemes.
Prominent scams have involved false endorsements from My Food Bag co-founder Nadia Lim, TVNZ presenter Hayley Holt, and former Prime Minister John Key. Offshore, similar scams have used celebrities such as chef Jamie Oliver and TV presenter and founder of MoneySavingExpert.com Martin Lewis.
Facebook’s director of product management, Rob Leathern, told Stuff the reporting tool became available in New Zealand and Australia on Thursday.
It first launched last year in the United Kingdom, after Lewis dropped his lawsuit against Facebook on the condition the social media company dedicate resources to anti-scam initiatives. Lewis and other critics argued Facebook should bear greater liability for the content of all its ads.
‘‘Low-quality, click-bait ads don’t align with our goals of creating meaningful connections,’’ Leathern said. ‘‘Often, we’ll go beyond rejecting the ad; we’ll remove the ability of the accounts and people behind them to advertise with us in the future.’’
In some cases, the company will consider legal options, he added.
More user feedback will help Facebook improve its automated detection of the scammers’ changing tactics, Leathern said. ‘‘It’s kind of a cat and mouse game we’re constantly playing.’’
Facebook was also looking at using facial recognition technology to detect unauthorised celebrity images, he said. However, there were challenges: ‘‘We have to consider how to address privacy concerns.’’
In July, celebrity chef Nadia Lim warned her Facebook followers not to be fooled by a hoax skin care brand. ‘‘Please don’t be fooled by this illegal activity, whatever you do don’t hand over your personal or credit card details to these scammers,’’ she said.
‘‘I’ve reported it to Facebook, if you come across them the best thing you can do is report them too.’’
More recently, scammers used a photo of John Campbell alongside a fabricated quote promoting succulent plants.
At the time, a TVNZ spokeswoman confirmed none of the network’s presenters endorsed Bitcoin, argan oil, succulent growers or any other similar schemes. Many times over TVNZ’s lawyers have started proceedings to have the fake posts removed, she said. However, finding the perpetrators was difficult.
In 2018, New Zealanders reported to Netsafe 13,000 instances of online scams and fraud and $33 million in losses — up three times on the previous year. The average loss increased from $10,771 in 2017 to $21,140 in 2018.
Netsafe CEO Martin Cocker said online scams were a pervasive issue for New Zealand and the country needed to rethink the way resources were coordinated to protect Kiwis.
Netsafe received about 50 reports of celebrity-bait scams from September 2018–2019. The reports cited fake endorsements from Holt, Key, as well as Mike Hosking, former All Black Richie McCaw, and Finance Minister Grant Robertson.
Former All Black coach Steve Hansen and wife Natasha have sold their Wanaka holiday home after just one week on the market, but their lifestyle property in Christchurch has been passed in at auction.
The five-bedroom, five-bathroom Wanaka house in Forest Heights sold for $2.7 million, which is $990,000 above the $1,710,000 RV.
A Ray White spokesperson said the Wanaka team received ‘‘significant interest’’ and had two offers on the table within the week. But it’s likely the buyer did not know who the owner was. ‘‘We didn’t publicise that it was his house.’’
The house features a large, openplan family living area opening to a deck with views across the lake to the mountains. Records show the Hansens paid $1.8 million for the house in August 2016. Meanwhile, the award-winning Christchurch property, at 42 Hamptons Rd, Prebbleton, remains for sale by negotiation.
‘‘The Ray White agents are working very hard for the Hansens with several interested parties,’’ the spokesperson said.
The 520 square-metre, stone and Linea weatherboard house has five bedrooms, a media room, awardwinning kitchen, extensive outdoor living areas and a pool. It sits on 2.78ha of land that includes gardens and a substantial paddock – big enough for your own rugby pitch.
Out buildings include a garage and five-bay shed with a room that could be used as a gym or hobby room.
Other special features include 32 solar panels that power the underfloor heating.
In 2016, the property won a New Zealand Master Builders of the Year Gold Award for a new home over $2 million, while the kitchen won the New Zealand Master Builders of the Year Lifestyle Award for Heart of the Home Kitchen.
At the time of listing the property, Hansen said: ‘‘We’ve loved everything about our beautiful home over the last four years, however, we’re now preparing for the next phase of our lives after rugby. It’s as simple as that.’’
Hansen stepped down from his job as head coach of the All Blacks when his contract expired following the team’s defeat at the Rugby World Cup in Japan last month. Hansen will take over as coach for Japanese Top League club Toyota Verblitz.