PE firm Credor to pursue Meta on consumer protection and action against scammers 

• Scammers have impersonated Creador’s founder & its non-profit foundation.
• Meta has profited from frauds by allowing sponsored posts impersonating Creador.

Social media giant Meta is too slow in taking down fraudulent posts from its platforms, making vulnerable Malaysians the victims of scammers, stated private equity firm, Creador, the latest organisation to be impersonated on Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp.

The firm said scammers have also impersonated Creador’s founder Brahmal Vasudevan (pic) and its registered non-profit Creador Foundation, to lure Meta’s social media users through sponsored posts promoting investment seminars and offering investment advice. 

“Vulnerable people, especially the elderly, are losing money to these scams. They must be protected from scammers who are allowed to advertise on these platforms. We are concerned that Meta is not cracking down hard enough. Allowing these sponsored posts to be published is unacceptable,” Brahmal said.

“Meta has profited from these frauds by allowing sponsored posts which impersonate Creador and other organisations and well-known figures. Creador has already issued a letter of demand to Meta, and if it does not take this seriously, we will take legal action,” he added.

Creador first reported these fraudulent posts to Meta’s platforms in March. These posts contain links that direct victims to a WhatsApp chat with someone impersonating Brahmal. The impersonator would later share links that ostensibly promote an upcoming initial public offering but actually direct victims to a fraudulent website where they are asked to transfer funds to accounts of companies unrelated to Creador.

According to Creador, Meta has not acted quickly enough to remove all such posts despite the firm’s reports and complaints through the channels on Facebook and Instagram, which found that its own Facebook page had been suspended instead with no reason given.

“Meta is not responsive enough to complaints of impersonation and scams. Its system for reporting such cases is ineffective. The company has failed to even enforce its own Community Standards which prohibit impersonation,” Brahmal said.

Facebook initially concluded that the fraudulent posts Creador reported were “content which doesn’t go against our Community Standards.” It was not until Creador appealed to Meta’s Oversight Board that some fraudulent posts were removed.

Since the partial removal of reported posts in April, Facebook has published new sponsored posts with similar or identical impersonations in June.

“They should have the technology to clamp down systematically to ensure scam advertisements are not repeatedly posted,” Brahmal said.