More than 1,700 fake ads about Pix and Amounts Receivable circulated on Meta's networks, study shows
- Rafaela Campos da Silva
- Mar 8
- 1 min read
Jornal O Globo - February 8, 2025
Around 1,770 fake ads involving scams about popular financial services - such as Pix and Valores a Receber - circulated between January 10 and 21 on the networks of Meta, owner of Instagram. Most of the paid posts involved artificial intelligence techniques and, in some cases, even “deepfakes” (fake images and videos) of politicians such as federal deputy Nikolas Ferreira and Finance Minister Fernando Haddad.
The information is part of a study by NetLab, a research laboratory at the School of Communications at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), which identified the fraudulent posts. The more than 1,700 ads were paid for by 151 advertisers, who directed users to 85 fake websites to carry out financial scams.
The criminals mentioned in the ads subjects such as the new rule for sending transaction information via Pix to the Federal Revenue Service, a regulation that had come into effect on January 1 but was revoked on the 15th of the same month.