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Facebook claims it’s working hard to clamp down on ‘fake news’ sites, but it seems to have an entirely different strategy when it comes to raking in advertising revenue.
A ‘sponsored post’ – also known as ‘an ad’ – is doing the rounds on social media this week, and the entire pitch has been calculated to look like an ABC news story. Albeit a pretty ridiculous one.
The ad is for bitcoin trading software, but it claims to be an ABC News exclusive, based on an interview Australian mining magnate Twiggy Forrest did with The Project’s Waleed Ali “last week”.
In fact, the last time Forrest appeared on The Project was in 2018, and the included pic of Forrest isn’t from that appearance because Aly wasn’t even on the program – Hamish MacDonald was hosting the show.
Over to the scammers…
“(ABC News) – Australian entrepreneur and philanthropist (sic) Andrew Forrest has made a name for himself as a brash straight-talker who doesn’t mind being honest about how he makes his money.
“Last week, he appeared on The Project and announced a new “wealth loophole” which he says can transform anyone into a millionaire within 3-4 months. Forrest urged everyone in Australia to jump on this amazing opportunity before the big banks shut it down for good.
“And sure enough, minutes after the interview was over, National Australia Bank called to stop Forrest’s interview from being aired – it was already too late.”
Admittedly, the NAB is roughly that corrupt, but it’s doubtful they have a hot-line to The Project, and it’s even more doubtful Twiggy Forrest would ever share tips on how to make so much money.
The scam appears on various websites, and appears to be months old. We’ve put in a media inquiry to Facebook, and we’ll let you know if they respond.
UPDATE: Don’t be sweating on that response from Facebook anytime soon. They’re notorious for not responding to media enquiries, but after we sent an email to the address they publish on their page, this is what happened.
Pretty flash for a company that in 2018 recorded revenue of more than $55 billion.
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