Social Media Scam Ads Are Everywhere. Here’s How to Spot Them

One social media giant reportedly serves up billions of scam ads each day

Scroll through your social media feed and you’re likely to find ads that are not quite as legitimate as they first appear. There’s the trendy brand-name product being offered at a ridiculously low price. There’s the celebrity (actually an AI clone) hawking a crypto venture. There’s the miracle cure that promises to solve your health problems. If you transact with these sketchy ads, you could risk losing your money or having your personal information used for malicious purposes.

What you might not know is that these fraudulent ads are extremely profitable for social media platforms—and it may not be in those platforms’ best financial interests to do more to protect you.

A recent landmark investigation by Reuters revealed the scope of the problem. Internal documents from Meta, the parent of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, estimated that in 2024 the company earned $16 billion—roughly 10% of its annual revenue—from ads for scams and banned goods. Documents further revealed that users of Meta’s platforms are exposed to 15 billion scam ads each day, including messages for “fraudulent e-commerce and investment schemes, illegal online casinos, and the sale of banned medical products.”

Perhaps the biggest concern: While Meta has been taking steps to reduce the amount of revenue it earns from scam ads, it has apparently been hesitant to crack down too hard for fear of hurting profits, according to the Reuters report. One internal document shows that Meta expects to be fined $1 billion by various regulatory agencies for failing to protect users—a price the company seems willing to pay instead of cutting too deeply into its lucrative scam-ad revenue stream.

How to protect yourself against fraudulent ads

What can be done about the deluge of sketchy ads? According to a report in WIRED, a pair of former senior executives from Meta have formed a nonprofit aimed at bringing more responsibility and transparency to social media platforms. Among the ideas they’ve proposed are a system in which users are notified when an ad they’ve previously clicked on has since been found to violate the platform’s policies; and a requirement that platforms donate or give up money earned from scam ads.

But for now, the burden still mainly falls on consumers to identify and avoid scam ads on social media. Here are some best practices for spotting potential fraud in ads.

Apply the common-sense rule. Ask yourself questions about the legitimacy of an ad. Why would an e-commerce site be selling a popular item like the Nintendo Switch 2 at such an absurdly low price? Why would a big Hollywood celebrity be pitching a nutritional supplement I’ve never heard of? Never lose sight of the old adage: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. (If you’re not sure whether the advertised price of a product is too low to be legitimate, do an online search. The results will show you what the product is selling for on other sites.)

Watch for fake branding. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) advises consumers not to assume that the company or brand named in the ad is the actual seller. Check carefully to identify the real seller, and if they’re unfamiliar to you, do an online search for the company or brand, adding terms like “scam,” “complaint,” or “review.” You can also search the Better Business Bureau’s Scam Tracker for reports or complaints about a specific company.

Check the security and legitimacy of the seller’s site. If you click on an ad and it takes you to an e-commerce site that you’re familiar with, don’t automatically assume it’s the real thing. Scammers can fake popular websites. Carefully review the URL to see if it exactly matches that of the actual, legitimate site. Also, make sure the site is secure: Look for a padlock icon in the browser window and “https” at the front of the URL. If the site is fake or non-secure, don’t engage with it.

Don’t assume images are real. Scammers often use sleek, flashy images of products—clothing, tech gadgets, home furnishing items, and more—to catch your eye. The problem is, these products may not exist, at least not in the form you’re seeing. AI and related technologies have made it easier than ever for fraudsters to enhance, manipulate, or entirely invent product imagery. What you see in the ad may not be what you receive, if you receive anything at all.

Watch for red flags regarding comments, ratings, and reviews. If the seller does not allow comments on their posts, they may be trying to avoid showing the complaints of dissatisfied customers. If the seller has nothing but 5-star ratings, or if they’ve got nothing but highly positive reviews (especially if the reviews all seem to use similar language), it’s a potential sign of fraud. No product or brand, regardless of popularity, is universally loved by every person who purchases it.

Avoid nontraditional forms of payment. If, after clicking a link from an ad, you see a request for payment via payment app, gift card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency, walk away. It’s highly likely to be a scam. When purchasing anything online, use a credit card. Many credit cards offer enhanced fraud protection, and you’ll have an opportunity to dispute the charge if something goes wrong. That said, if you click a link and the very first thing that comes up is a requirement to enter your credit card information before proceeding any further, that’s highly suspicious. Don’t engage.

Don’t ignore it; report it. Finally, if you spot an ad that seems to be fraudulent, don’t just scroll past it. Instead, report it to the social media platform as well as the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. If enough people report scam ads, it will help crank up the pressure on social media companies to do the right thing and stop taking advertising dollars from fraudsters.