Advertisement The Sydney Morning Herald ’s website layout and branding have been replicated by criminals to spread fake articles on Facebook and dupe people into investing in fraudulent financial schemes.
Truck driver John McSorley was one of many people who have been targeted by the false articles circulated on social media, that use this reporter’s name.
McSorley was unemployed earlier this year and looking for extra money when he noticed an article on Facebook which purported to be published by the Herald .
“Former Bank Employee Leaks Secret How Aussies Can Get Rich In a Matter of Months (Banks Are Furious),” was the headline.
The article promoted a scheme called the “Profit Trader” system, that claimed to use “artificial intelligence algorithms and machine learning to accurately predict when the cryptocurrency rate will rise and fall”.
Reader comments appeared to show happy customers, posting “worked for me!” and “From $250 to 14,500 in 8 trading days.Signed up and keep the train rolling.”
McSorley had never invested before, but trusted the news title.He transferred $US250 ($351) and, a few days later, was contacted by a man posing as a financial adviser.
The man on the phone asked for access to McSorley’s computer, which he denied.“He became very angry.I told him I wasn’t going to give him access and I didn’t see why he needed access.
He ended up hanging up on me and we haven’t spoken since.”
In search of answers, McSorley contacted this reporter only to discover the scheme was a scam.More than a dozen others have also made contact to check the authenticity of the article.
Advertisement The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in March launched legal action against Facebook’s owner Meta alleging the platform has engaged in false, misleading or deceptive conduct by publishing scam advertisements featuring prominent Australian public figures.
Loading It was the final lawsuit instigated by longstanding ACCC chair Rod Sims, who said in May the failure to block scam posts was unacceptable.
“If social media is going to continue, it has to take more responsibility for what’s on its site,” Sims said.“This idea they’re just a dumb billboard, we all know that’s not right.
So, they need to take responsibility.”
Former e-Safety Commissioner turned CyberCX chief strategy officer Alastair MacGibbon agrees, claiming social media companies had abdicated responsibility for protecting their customers.
“They will tell you they have thousands of people reviewing posts and taking them down,” he said.
“It should be embarrassing to Facebook and Twitter that quite simple criminals are able to defeat such sophisticated organisations.”
MacGibbon said online consumers rely on Facebook’s content moderation and are further lulled into a false sense of security by scams that use trusted brands, such as The Sydney Morning Herald, and while there needs to be greater consumer education, the platforms ultimately should bear the cost.
“The message to all the victims is they’re victims of Facebook not caring,” he said.“We shouldn’t be blaming the victims here, we should be blaming the methods by which they were exposed to the criminals.”
McSorley hasn’t been able to retrieve his money and efforts to remove the articles have not been successful.While hindsight is a powerful thing, McSorley said the combination of Facebook and the Herald lowered his guard.
“Like I said, it was coming from a reputable source, from the paper.These people need to be tracked down.And shamed publicly.
And sued.”
Meta was contacted for comment..
