Social media might be the marketing and advertising industry’s go-to channel but it has now also overtaken email as the UK’s top scam platform, accounting for over a third (34%) of reported online scam incidents, with Meta platforms exposing users to a whopping 15 billion “high-risk” scam ads every day, and dodgy ads generating roughly $7bn in annualised revenue for the social media giant.
As money lost to investment scams in the UK leapt 55% in a single year, forex broker BrokerChooser scraped the Meta Ads Library and analysed over 1,200 active finance-related ads to identify the countries where social media users are most vulnerable.
It found that UK social media users remain at risk despite lower exposure, with over two in five finance-related Meta ads (43.36%) targeting Brits classified as ‘high-risk’.
These risky ads tend to promise rapid profits while downplaying potential losses. Over a third (36.28%) of UK financial ads fail to include proper risk disclaimers and often use exaggerated, persuasive language such as “multiply your potential up to 20x!” and “instant payouts with 99.9% processed immediately”.
Particularly concerning is the rise of AI-powered trading bots marketed for forex and crypto, often directing users to contact sellers via WhatsApp, a platform largely unregulated with minimal consumer protection.
Fraudsters tend to exploit personal messaging apps, directing users to Instagram and WhatsApp to bypass platform detection.
Meanwhile, social media users in Poland and the Czech Republic face the greatest exposure to financial scams online, with all (100%) finance-related Meta ads identified as either risky or outright scams.
Belgium ranks among the top three highest-risk countries, with a striking 93.85% of finance-related Meta ads classified as dodgy.
BrokerChooser head broker analyst Adam Nasli said: “Social media has become a fertile hunting ground for financial scammers, reaching billions of users online. Our analysis reveals that many high-risk ads rely heavily on persuasive, attention-grabbing language while avoiding clear risk disclosure.
“Common red flags include phrases like unlock $400K, instant funding and free trading, often paired with prompts directing users to private messaging apps such as Instagram, WhatsApp or Telegram. By moving interactions off-platform, scammers bypass moderation, avoid detection and manipulate users directly in a one-on-one setting.”
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