Facebook, (Instagram) and Google advertising are being abused by criminals to swindle users out of millions of dollars in 2020. Online shopping related to Facebook advertising is cited by nearly 100% of consumers who report having placed an order and never received their items, or received items that were not remotely like what was advertised.

Criminals have been stealing photos of brand name and artisan items then placing ads on Facebook with no intention of delivering the products they advertise.

These scam ads look real and can be carefully targeted to reach a particular audience. The scammers can delete comments on their ads or posts, so that negative responses don’t show up and alert people to the con.

Many of these scam companies use PayPal as the Merchant's payment of choice.  PayPal has over 100 million customers, however many claim they have no “customer service”, although they say they have a department for it. Their Purchase Protection is worthless. Their dispute resolution cases are decided based on invalid reasoning. They do business with the worst overseas scam companies and do not stand behind their customers, citing; items be returned to China at costs that are higher than the item cost, is a deterrent for many victims.  This needs to change!

Shopify plays a significant role in these scams. Scammers use the free ecommerce platform and web domain themes.  Shopify does not have a clear reporting system that victims of these scam domains can report to.

Action needs to be taken by Facebook, PayPal and Shopify to take scam reports seriously and act on these scam reports quickly.

What we demand from Facebook, Google, Paypal & Shopify:

·      Set-up a stricter “Know Your Customer (KYC) process, including verification of the company and at least one of the shareholders listed.

·      Create a uniform, easy to find and to use report form which allows consumers to report fraud.

·      Share data on reported scams openly to faster identify possible scammers across multiple platforms.

·      Remove scammer advertisements after having received 3 validated scam reports or immediately at the request of law enforcement.

If Facebook, Google, PayPal and Shopify are not part of the SOLUTION, they are part of the PROBLEM!