EXCLUSIVEWhat a scam! Gina Rinehart blasts Mark Zuckerberg for CASHING IN on fake celeb-bait ads - and demands Facebook cough up and repay victims who have been conned

EXCLUSIVE 

Australias richest person has blasted Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg for cashing in while everyday Australians get conned out of their lifesavings online.

In her latest scathing attack on the companys lacklustre response to social media scamming, Gina Rinehart said Facebooks parent company, Meta, should have to reimburse users who had fallen victim to fraudulent ads on the platform. 

The mining magnate said Elon Musk had proved the online scam scourge could be beaten after he effectively eradicated dodgy profiles from Twitter, and accused Facebooks bosses of failing to take any real action.

I have been urging action on this for several years, Mrs Rinehart told Daily Mail Australia. 

Elon Musks platform has managed to almost eradicate the scamming problem, so why not Facebook?

They have taken too long and done too little to address this. 

Gina Rinehart says Mark Zuckerbergs social media platforms should reimburse users who fall victim to the fraudulent scam ads that continue to proliferate on the sites

Mark Zuckerberg, pictured with his wife Priscilla Chan, and his company, Meta, have drawn sustained criticism for doing too little to crackdown on social media scammers

Facebook has made money in advertising revenue while enabling Australians to be scammed and suffer. 

Apologies arent very helpful, but sending money Facebook has received to those who they have helped cause suffering to would be a helpful start.

Mrs Gineharts comments come after Meta this week announced it was working on a suite of new systems designed to crack down on unscrupulous online con-artists. 

Metas vice-president of content policy, Monika Bickert, said the measures included the immediate global expansion of a facial recognition trial designed to identify - and block - fake celebrity scam ads.

Scammers often try to use images of public figures, such as content creators or celebrities, to bait people into engaging with ads that lead to scam websites where they are asked to share personal information or send money, she said.

This scheme, commonly called celeb-bait, violates our policies and is bad for people that use our products.

Of course, celebrities are featured in many legitimate ads. But because celeb-bait ads are often designed to look real, its not always easy to detect them.

Just one of the hundreds of online scam posts impersonating Australias richest person

Mrs Rinehart says Elon Musk proved social media platforms can beat the scourge of celebrity scam ads after the billionaire removed thousands of dodgy profiles from Twitter

We will try to use facial recognition technology to compare faces in the ad against the public figures Facebook and Instagram profile pictures. 

If we confirm a match and that the ad is a scam, well block it.

She said the technology would not be used for any purpose other than combating online fraud. 

We immediately delete any facial data generated from ads for this one-time comparison regardless of whether our system finds a match, she said.

Meta has come under fire for failing to stop scammers from pushing fake celebrity ads on the social media platform for years, with Mrs Rinehart a particularly prominent and longstanding critic. 

The billionaire philanthropist wrote to Zuckerberg last November urging him to do more to remove the countless thousands of fake ads proliferating his social media sites. 

Former A Current Affair host Tracy Grimshaw has also railed against the fake celebrity ads

Across Meta, numerous scammers have falsely used the names of prominent Australians such as Harry Triguboff, Dick Smith and me, in an effort to fraudulently solicit money from vulnerable people, she wrote. 

There scams have also deceptively involved the names of high-profile media personalities from Channel 7, Sky, Channel 9, and others, wrongly using them in scams in efforts to scam money from innocent people. 

In the last few weeks, I have had more than 750 scams on Facebook, as opposed to only one on Twitter in the same time period.

Greater action is needed to stop scams and intentionally fraudulent content from being available and advertised to millions of Australians. 

In an all-too-common trend, real Australians are losing their hard-earned money, including a widowed pensioner from Queensland who was scammed out of over $150,000 from her retirement savings and superannuation in 2022. 

In another example, one Australian lost $40,000. Innocent Australians are falling victim to job scams through Facebook. 

Popular Today show host Karl Stefanovic, pictured with wife Jasmine, has also had his identity stolen and misused by unscrupulous online scammers

Victims often find themselves grappling with the heart-wrenching prospect of losing their homes and life savings, leaving individuals and families in a state of distress and desperation. 

Beyond the tangible losses of billions of dollars, the emotional and psychological toll is huge. 

There (was) one scam running (last November) that wrongly uses Tracy Grimshaw, a high-profile media personality in Australia, and I in a fake news story encouraging Australians to invest AU$40,000 into a bogus income-generating software program. 

This scam (had) been active on Meta platforms in one form or another since January 24, 2023, despite it being reported.

Grimshaw, and fellow high-profile TV celebrities including Karl Stefanovic and David Koch, have also hit out at Meta for failing to take appropriate action against fraudsters illegally misusing their identities in fake ads.

However, Meta said its new facial recognition program would fix that, with the scheme expanded to include the faces of 50,000 global celebrities in the coming weeks. 

Early testing with a small group of celebrities and public figures shows promising results in increasing the speed and efficacy with which we can detect and enforce against this type of scam, the company said. 

Former Sunrise host David Koch has called for Meta to take immediate action to stamp out online scammers

The company said the public figures would receive an in-app notification alerting them that their faces had been automatically included in the program - though they would be able to opt-out at any time. 

Weve also seen scammers impersonate public figures by creating imposter accounts, with the goal of duping people into engaging with scam content or sending money, the company said. 

For example, scammers may claim that a celebrity has endorsed a specific investment offering or ask for sensitive personal information in exchange for a free giveaway. 

We currently use detection systems and user reports to help identify potential impersonators. 

Were exploring adding another step to help find this kind of fake account faster.