What you need to know:

• Images of Nine star Eddie McGuire being arrested have been circulating across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in more than 200 fake ads. The ads first appeared on 29 August and have been posted by different hacked user accounts.
• The ads bait users to a fake article that suggests McGuire has been in trouble for sharing details of a get rich quick screen on Seven's Sunrise program. In the article, McGuire reveals the "secret" to Matt Shirvington. This script has also been mirrored using The Project and Waleed Aly. Another nefarious ad on X, formerly Twitter, uses images of McGuire with his son that directs users to a software download.
• The article pages mimic real news websites, including News.com.au and New Idea.
• Nine has called on social media platforms to improve actions to prevent fraudulent ads from being published.
• Former Sunrise host David Koch, whose image has been used in several misleading scam ads, has vowed to take social media companies to court. He is currently the victim of an identical scam to McGuire, following a similar script.
• Facebook said it is investigating the ads; Twitter appeared uninterested.
• Regulators are already taking a tougher line on scam ads; it's part of a Government review into digital platforms and online harm. The ACCC has taken Meta to court over the issue.

Eddie's in the hot seat, again

Fraudsters have used images of Millionaire Hot Seat host Eddie McGuire to bait users into signing up for cryptocurrency schemes and downloading software in a barrage of more than 200 fake ads across Facebook, Meta and Twitter, an Mi3 investigation has found.

In 2018, McGuire was the subject of fake erectile dysfunction ads on Facebook – which were swiftly taken down – and threatened to sue the social media company.

This time the ads, which have been posted from several hacked Facebook accounts, are arguably more defamatory as they depict McGuire being arrested for promoting a get-rich-quick scheme.

The latest scam ads direct users to fake news articles that falsely suggest McGuire is in trouble for promoting a crypto trading platform on Seven's Sunrise. The fake articles can appear reputable, using branding from the likes of News.com.au, New Idea and others; a News Corp spokesperson told Mi3 "when fraudulent articles like this are brought to our attention we immediately request they be taken down".

McGuire's employer Nine wants social media platforms to take an active role in preventing fraudulent ads from being circulated and doing harm.

“Big tech companies should be doing more to protect consumers from becoming victims of this sort of fake and misleading advertising, which is also harmful to our on-air talent,” a spokesperson told Mi3. 

“This particular defamatory ad highlights how difficult it is to identify the people behind it – who are often overseas – and illustrates why the companies collecting these ad dollars should play a more active role in preventing scam ads.” 

Former Sunrise host David Koch has told 2GB's Ben Fordham that he has had enough and is considering launching defamation suits against social media companies that run scam ads featuring his image.

A new scam ad on Facebook has targeted Koch in a similar fashion to McGuire. It follows an almost identical script, but this time directs users to a fake Seven.co.au site and falsely suggests Koch is in trouble for promoting a trading platform on Seven's The Morning Show.

Cat and mouse

Meta’s advertising policy forbids ads that contain deceptive content, including the use of deceptive or misleading practices to scam people out of money or personal information, but policing violations is proving tough. It uses “automated reviews” to detect ads that violate its policy, but admits this doesn’t pick all cases, and will also investigate cases that are brought to its attention.

Per Facebook’s review process website: This may include the specific components of an ad, such as images, video, text and targeting information, as well as an ad's associated landing page or other destinations, among other information.

“We are reviewing the content in question. Scammers present a challenge in any environment, including social media. Pages that impersonate other people go against our Advertising Policies, and aren’t allowed on our platforms,” per a Meta spokesperson. 

"Meta is constantly tackling scams through a combination of technology, such as new machine learning techniques and specially trained reviewers, to identify content and accounts that violate our policies. We encourage people to use our in-app reporting tools when they see any suspicious activity.” 

Mi3 asked about the fake ads circulating on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, but received an automated response: “Busy now, please check back later.”

This case highlights the perennial cat and mouse dance social media platforms must perform with savvy fraudsters who often hack into accounts of verified individuals on social media, including musicians and online bloggers, to post their scams. Mi3 got in touch with one musician whose page ran the fake ads and her agent confirmed the account had been hacked.

A game of whack-a-mole

McGuire is one of many TV presenters to be target by fraudsters. A Free TV submission to the Government's Digital Platform Services Inquiry, pointed out that images of Nine newsreader Georgie Gardner, Today Show presenters Allison Langdon and Karl Stefanovic, and Koch have all been misrepresented by scammers on social media to tout dodgy apps, cryptocurrencies and fake competitions to con people into giving up personal information, such as credit card details, while downloads almost always contain malware. Seven has previously been subject to a scam in which Facebook pages impersonating Seven’s Sydney Weekender sought out sensitive personal information.

A bugbear for TV networks and their talent who fall victim to fake ad scams is the time it takes platforms to remove the posts in what some liken to a game of “whack-a-mole”.

“It remains the case that the takedown processes for scam advertisements implemented by Meta (and other platforms) are inadequate. Fake ads continue to quickly reappear after they are taken down. These inadequate takedown processes damage the business reputations of broadcasters and also the personal reputations of the celebrities and media personalities that are misrepresented,” Free TV wrote in its submission.

Commercial TV networks and their industry body Free TV have long argued social platforms “should be required to ensure that material which they control is not fake, damaging, misleading or defamatory” and urged regulatory intervention to hold platforms accountable for the ads they distribute.

Regulators start to regulate

Although it has taken time, regulators are getting tougher on how social media platforms tackle fake ads and scams.

In early 2022, the ACCC sued Meta in the Federal Court in relation to scam advertising appearing on its platforms. At the time, the then ACCC Chair Rod Sims said Meta should be doing more to detect and then remove false or misleading ads on Facebook.

An ACCC spokesperson told Mi3 it could not comment further on the ongoing court case or specifics about the fake Eddie McGuire ads. 

“The National Anti-Scam Centre’s (NASC) first fusion cell is currently working with digital platforms on better ways to combat investment scams. The ACCC has also been working on Digital Platforms issues since 2017 and is aware that platforms have increasingly become gateways for how scammers reach consumers."

The Government is considering the ACCC’s September 2022 interim report of the Digital Platform Services Inquiry, which recommends addressing online scams, alongside fake reviews and harmful apps, through new mandatory requirements for digital platforms.

These would include ‘notice-and-action’ requirements, mandatory reporting, verification of certain business users and improved dispute resolution. The report also recommends a new independent ombudsman scheme to resolve disputes between digital platforms and consumers. But that may be some years away: The Digital Services Inquiry will run until 2025.

ACMA and Seven declined to comment for this piece.