An investigation by Which? reveals scam ads still running on platforms even after receiving warnings from the FCA.
Which? has warned users about scam ads on Meta‘ Facebook and Instagram, as well as across Google and TikTok.
An investigation by the consumer group found ads promoting investments, insurance, credit, or financial advice were operating without authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
A few of these, such as Coverfast, had even received direct warnings from the FCA – but its ‘company’ structure makes them difficult to identify, track, and remove.
The FCA runs a list of businesses or users which it suspects is running a scam or performing services without authorisation – both of which are criminal offences. However, Which? research found “dozens of unauthorised firms from recent FCA warnings were able to advertise on at least one of the UK’s most popular tech platforms at some point”.
Which? tracked a site that was able to seemingly avoid Meta’s detection by tagging its page as a “gaming video creator”, despite it offering alleged investments into SpaceX without authorisation from the regulator.
The site – privatemarketunlock.uk, which was created in April 2026 – received a warning on 5 June, but was still able to continue publishing for three days afterwards.
Meta and Google take payment from these advertisers. Meta reportedly earns more from scam ads, as it demands a higher free from ads it flags as “high-risk”.
Scam ads are a significant portion of revenue, too, with Meta supposedly bringing in 10% of its revenue (or $16bn) from fraudulent ads.
Oliver Griffiths, Ofcom’s online safety group director, said: “For too long, victims have been exposed to scam ads online with tech giants simply not doing enough to combat the fraudsters using their platforms.
“Platforms should not drag their heels – they can start making improvements for their users now. And sites and apps that fail to meet their legal duties, once in force, can expect to face serious consequences.”
Proactive platforms
Meta has long insisted the scam ads are served by “determined criminals”, who use sophisticated tactics to evade detection. The platform said it has collaborated with banks and financial services to try and protect audiences from scams, and claims to have removed 159 million scam ads so far in 2026.
A spokesperson from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said: “We recognise the harms caused by online scam ads and we’re committed to playing our part in tackling them. While scam ads fall outside our traditional regulatory remit (as we regulate advertising by legitimate businesses and we’re not the appropriate body to tackle ads by criminal actors) we work closely with online and social media platforms to identify and disrupt them through our Scam Ad Alert System.”
Platforms are not legally obliged to prevent unauthorised scam ads, but Ofcom has proposed a new legal challenge to force tech giants to proactively intercept fraudulent advertisers and ban them from their sites.
An Ofcom spokesperson told Affiliate Leaders: “Under the Online Safety Act, Parliament has charged us with the job of regulating an industry that has been unregulated and unaccountable for more than 20 years.
“Meta, X and TikTok are challenging our efforts to gather information from them. Meta is challenging us on our ability to set fees and maximum fines. Separately, Roblox, WhatsApp, Instagram and Quora are appealing our decisions in July to designate them as category 1 services. On all these fronts, we will robustly defend our reasoning and decisions.”
