Thousands of Europeans are falling prey to online investment scams peddled on social media. Tech firms and public authorities are failing to shield citizens in the shadow of the Digital Services Act, Investigate Europe can reveal.

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On the hunt for scams

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“Organised crime groups that used to be involved in drugs, weapons and human trafficking are increasingly turning to economic crime.”

— Sebastian Takle, Norwegian bank DNB

Online scams reach ‘unprecedented magnitude’

Uphill struggle for content watchdogs

“There are often several versions of the same advertisement, and the fraudulent one is hidden somewhere in the middle.”

— Valentine Auer, Vienna Institute for Applied Telecommunications

Erratic response times from Meta

Founder Thanos Sitistas says he discovered a deepfake video in early October on Facebook featuring a British investor who appeared to promote a supposed investment. By that time, the video had already been viewed by 12.3 million users, he says. Sitistas reported the video to Meta and they removed it right away, he says. But that is not always the case. Sometimes, it takes “up to a month” for Meta to decide on reported content, he adds.

“They’re using the functionality of the platforms to just get your contact details, and then everything moves off the platform.”

— Paul O’Brien, Bank of Ireland

Prosecutors and police can’t keep up

“We suspect that the proceeds of fraud have now replaced earnings from the sale of drugs in the criminal networks.”

— Andre Hvoslef-Eide, Norway public prosecutor

EU tech law leaves fraud unchecked

hailedconsumer watchdogs