In a survey carried out by Which?, a third (34 per cent) of victims said that scam adverts were not taken down by Google after they reported them, while a quarter (26 per cent) of victims who reported a scam advert on Facebook also said the advert was not removed by the social media company.
The survey, which was conducted by Opinium on behalf of Which?, asked 2,000 adults about their experiences, with 298 people saying they had fallen victim to a scam ad.
Which? said that online platforms should be given legal responsibility for preventing fake and fraudulent adverts from appearing on their sites in order to force them to take more action. It called on the government to include such a ruling in the scope of its proposed Online Safety Bill.
The survey also highlighted low levels of engagement with the scam reporting processes on online platforms. Two in five (43 per cent) scam victims conned by an online advert said they did not even report the scam...