More than two thirds of fraud cases reported to Lloyds first targeted customers on Meta platforms, the bank’s head of fraud prevention has said.
Data from the banking giant shows those in their late twenties and early thirties are being reeled into scams on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, which are all owned by Meta.
Common scams included ticket fraud, particularly for concerts and sporting events such as Taylor Swift’s Eras tour and Premier League football matches.
Writing in the Sunday Times, Lloyds’ fraud prevention director Liz Ziegler said 68 per cent of fraud reports from their customers started on a Meta platform.
“Customers tell us they feel upset, embarrassed and shaken,” Ms Ziegler said. “This is deeply personal and it can take a long time to recover.”
Data from Lloyds also shows the amount customers are reclaiming for scams is on the rise. The average claim value submitted to the bank is now above £500, which is an increase of about £100 from last year.
Other scams reported by customers included wedding photobooths, tattoo deposits, vapes, wigs, Moncler jackets, football shirts, and Dyson products.
It comes after lawyers from Richardson Hartley Law and Humphries Kerstetter announced they are bringing a group legal claim for scam victims who lost money after seeing a fraudulent advert on Facebook or Instagram.
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“A large number of fraud victims have had their lives ruined after answering scam ads on Facebook and Instagram,” they said.
“We have decided that we could no longer sit back and do nothing for these people. Our solution is to try to get their lost funds back from Meta. We hope that by holding Meta to account it will encourage the technology giant to stop showing these fake adverts.”
A Meta spokesperson told the Sunday Times: “Scammers are determined criminals who use increasingly sophisticated tactics to defraud people and evade detection on our platforms and across the internet. We fight scams on and off our platforms because they’re not good for us or the people and businesses that rely on our services.
“We require advertisers promoting financial products in the UK to demonstrate appropriate FCA authorisation and we removed over 159 million scam ads last year alone — 92 per cent of which we took down before anyone reported them.
“Our ongoing collaboration with the banking sector and law enforcement has helped intercept fraudulent activity, protect people from scams, and hold scammers accountable, reflecting our commitment to addressing this widespread challenge.”