Meta - May 2026

Watchdog investigates fraudulent financial adverts that have been appearing frequently on Facebook and Instagram feeds, that encourage people to sign up to bogus investment opportunities. This is still happening despite parent company Meta making a commitment in 2022 to no longer show financial adverts from companies which aren’t regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Nick and the Watchdog team found 200 scam adverts on Facebook within three days.

Joanne from Newport clicked on an advert on Facebook last year. The advert featured various celebrities who were promoting what claimed to be a good investment opportunity. Joanna says because the ad had popped up on Facebook, she signed up and invested £200. Joanne was then given access to a platform which the scammer claimed would show her the returns on her investment. She saw her investment go from £200 to £2000. Joanne was also contacted by someone claiming to be a financial advisor who informed her that in order to withdraw her profit, she would have to put thousands more into her trading account using bank loans which added up to just over £195,000. A friend then advised her that no financial institution would ask her to add more money in order to withdraw money, which was when she realised she had been scammed.

Teresa from Gloucester also invested £200 in an investment scheme she spotted through an advert on Instagram. She then saw how her investment was suddenly making thousands in profit. Theresa was also told that in order to access her profits, she must invest another £24,000 which she did. After she finally realised she’d been scammed, Teresa’s bank refunded some money, but she ended up losing £9,000

New laws are being introduced to ensure that people are better protected from scammers. When it’s fully implemented this year, the Online Safety Act will require companies like Meta to take reasonable steps to prevent fraudulent content from being posted, or remove it, or be fined.

In Australia, similar laws already exist. There a suspicious investment advert was spotted and removed by Meta. However, the same advert was allowed to be posted in the UK. These adverts are sponsored, which means Meta does make money from each one posted.

When we wrote to Meta, it told us it doesn’t allow fraudulent activity on its platforms and said it has removed the violating content brought to its attention. We were told that Meta is continually investing in protections against scams and fraud on its platforms, and that it works closely with law enforcement to tackle this issue.