Leaked Meta documents predicted 10% of its revenue came from scam ads in 2024

Meta users are exposed to 15 billion scam ads every day and Meta projected that 10% of its earnings in 2024, or $16bn, came from fraudulent ads for scams and banned goods, leaked documents show. 

News agency Reuters – which has seen internal company documents from the social media giant – says billions of Meta users are exposed to fraudulent e-commerce and investment schemes, illegal online casinos and the sale of banned medical products on a daily basis. 

In the UK, more than half of bank transfer scams recorded in 2023 originated on Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp, all of which are owned by Meta. 

Two years on and Which? continues to regularly warn the public about scams on these platforms, many of which are spread by rogue advertisers. This is why we want Ofcom to implement the Online Safety Act's codes of practice for fraudulent advertising as soon as possible. We're also calling on the government to ensure that there are no further delays in implementing these codes, including using legislation in the forthcoming fraud strategy if necessary.

Meta users exposed to 15 billion scam ads every day  

Documents from late 2024 reveal the shocking extent of malicious advertising on Meta platforms. These note that Meta users are exposed to an estimated 15 billion 'higher risk' scam ads a day, which are those that show clear signs of being fraudulent. Meta also pockets around $7bn in revenue from this category of scam ads each year. 

Scammers are clearly willing to spend money upfront to entrap victims using online advertising platforms. Media research firm Fenimore Harper reported last year that rogue advertisers on Meta spent more than £21,000 on over 250 adverts in just one month for an investment scam campaign featuring deepfakes of Prime Minister Keir Starmer. 

Clicking on just one malicious ad can also result in people being bombarded with more, because the leaked documents also note that Meta’s ad-personalisation system tries to deliver ads based on a user’s interests.

How will Meta solve its scam problem?

Meta later labelled its initial internal estimate (that it would earn 10.1% of its 2024 revenue from scams and other prohibited ads) as ‘rough and overly-inclusive’, though it declined to provide an updated figure. 

In a statement shared with Which?, Meta told us that reports from users about scam ads have declined by more than 50% in the past 15 months and, so far in 2025, Meta has removed more than 134 million pieces of scam ad content. 

Meta said: ‘We aggressively fight fraud and scams because people on our platforms don’t want this content, legitimate advertisers don’t want it and we don’t want it either. Scammers are persistent criminals whose efforts, often driven by ruthless cross-border criminal networks that operate on a global scale, continue to grow in sophistication and complexity. As scam activity becomes more persistent and sophisticated, so do our efforts. 

‘Unfortunately, the leaked documents present a selective view that distorts Meta’s approach to fraud and scams by focusing on our efforts to assess the scale of the challenge, not the full range of actions we have taken to address the problem.’