Meta has removed a number of hoax ads impersonating the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) following HKFP investigations.
The ads, aimed at Hong Kong residents, ran for weeks on Facebook. They urged users to contact the global police body if they wish to retrieve funds previously lost to the scams – however, the ads were misleading.
The posts were published by a fake news website called “Hong Kong Daily”, which has since been taken down, which falsely claimed to share an office address with the HKFP.
INTERPOL told HKFP that such advertisements should be reported to the local police. “To confirm that INTERPOL never directly contacts members of the public, never solicits money from people and never asks for bank details or any money transfers,” it said on Thursday. “Any such solicitation or advertisement is false. Members of the public should not engage and report any such email or advertisement to the local police.”
In response to the HKFP on Friday, a spokesperson for the Hong Kong Police Force said that they have “actively engaged the relevant authorities to verify and remove suspicious or fraudulent websites. In the process of removing such websites, cooperation with stakeholders, including various service providers, is essential. The Hong Kong Police Force is committed to protecting the public press service with these services. messages.”
The police force is part of the INTERPOL Member State of China.
Meta’s $3.5 billion in fraud profits – report
Last year, Meta banned over 3.7 million items of ad content in Hong Kong and 134 million instances worldwide. Also in 2025, the tech giant removed 10.9 million accounts linked to fraud centers. The company owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
A spokesperson for Meta told HKFP on Friday that ads impersonating the organization or seeking to mislead people are against its policies.
“The flagged Facebook page and associated ads have been removed for violating our policies,” the spokesperson said. “Fighting fraud on our platforms is one of our top priorities, and as fraudsters have grown in sophistication in recent years, so have our efforts. We use AI-powered detection technology to identify and remove fraudulent ads at scale, and we also encourage anyone who comes across suspicious ads to report them through our in-app tools.”
However, according to a REPORT by Reuters news agency, Meta earns US$3.5 billion (HK$27.4 billion) from just a fraction of fraudulent ads every six months.
Citing internal Meta documents, Reuters said the social media company predicted 10 percent of its revenue in 2024 would come from advertising for fraud and banned goods, amounting to US$16 billion (HK$124.8 billion).
Other misleading ads, which appear to target fraud victims, remained online as of Monday, according to HKFP checks.
An advertisement aimed at Hong Kong residents, published by a site called “Legal Aid”, asked those “affected by online fraud or an unregulated intermediary” to hand over their details.
Scammers pose as law enforcement officers to trick victims.
in March, Nikkei Asia reported that police stations and bogus banks were set up in fraud centers used to trick victims who interact via video calls.
