Led by Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), and including Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), six Democratic members of the Senate Banking Committee have sent a letter to Meta (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg requesting information on what steps are being taken to fight cryptocurrency scams on the company’s Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp platforms.
“From January 1, 2021 through March 31, 2022, 49% of fraud reports to the FTC involving cryptocurrency specified that the scam originated on social media,” said the group, noting these scams cost consumers a total of $417 million.
“While crypto scams are prevalent across social media, several of Meta’s sites are particularly popular hunting grounds for scammers,” the Senators added.
Among questions the group would like to see addressed: Detailing Meta’s current policies for proactively finding and removing crypto scammers, the procedure for verifying that crypto ads on Meta platforms are not scams, and to what extent the company collaborates with law enforcement to track down fraudsters.
