A widespread online scam is exploiting well-known Swedish TV personalities to deceive people into investing in fictitious projects. The fraudulent ads, featuring profiles from SVT and Aftonbladet, have reached around 900,000 users on Facebook. Despite Meta's policies against such scams, the network behind these campaigns continues to spend millions monthly on marketing, with some funds ending up with Meta.
SVT Personal Exploited in Online Scam: A Disturbing Trend
SVT Personal Exploited in Online Scam: A Disturbing Trend
In a widespread online scam, well-known TV personalities are being exploited to deceive people into investing in fictitious projects, reports SVT News. Profiles from both SVT and Aftonbladet are used in the fraud.
– It feels completely appalling, says Axel Björklund from 'Uppdrag granskning'.
Several well-known figures are featured in the scam ads. These personalities become the face of various campaigns for fake investment projects, despite having no connection to the sender, writes SVT News.
The scam ads have so far been published on 22 different Facebook pages, reaching around 900,000 users.
In the past week alone, over 300 new ads have been published, featuring familiar faces from the SVT program 'Uppdrag granskning'. Among those appearing are journalists Janne Josefsson, Karin Mattisson, and Ali Fegan.
– It's hard to say anything other than it feels completely appalling, says Axel Björklund, editor-in-chief at 'Uppdrag granskning' to SVT News.
Meta Profits from the Scams
The network behind the campaigns spends approximately 13 million SEK per month on marketing the frauds, according to 'Uppdrag granskning's own investigation – money that partially ends up with Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram.
Meta claims to work against fraud and that scam ads violate the platform's policy. Yet, previously reported pages can continue to spread new fraudulent content, according to SVT News.