The 'UK Scam Ad Alert' system has already been successfully trialled for three months during which time various scams, particularly those involving crypto investment such as Bitcoin, were taken down.
Many scam ads of this type use false stories or doctored images of celebrities, misleadingly implying the celebrities have endorsed the service in question.
Such adverts can have a significant financial effect on consumers that fall for them. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Action Fraud warned that in 2018/19 victims of crypto and forex investment scams had lost over £27m in total.
Consumers can now easily report scam ads appearing in paid-for space online. The ASA said it would then “promptly” alert participating platforms with key details of the scam ad, as well as alerting publishers when the ad appeared on a publisher-owned site.
Partners should then remove the offending ad and suspend the advertiser's account. In some instances, they...