CBLT - Monday, May 27, 2024 - 06:00 a.m. (ET) - Segment #2

a fraudster hi hi jacked her account and took her friends for thousands of dollars. As they were getting swindled the social media giant did nothing. >> None was true. Her online friends who thought they were buying the stuff were swindled out of thousands including her former neighbour. >> I thought it was my friend lisa. >> Reporter: last year canadians lost more than $174 million in social media scams. According to the canadian anti-fraud centre, she and her friends reported the crime to Facebook. The company did nothing to stop it. >> I felt bad for thearve their money was taken away. >> Reporter: meta the company behind Facebook says it does a lot to detect malicious activity yet go public found the same scam that got laury and her friend is running rampant on the site. When asked why it's failing to detect a scam it's been warned about, meta didn't respond. The company made about $185 billion in revenue last year. Cyber crime expert says it's time to invest a lot more into protecting users. >> The organizations need to respond to people's actual needs. >> Reporter: meta employs over 15,000 people around the world to review potential violations but won't say why it failed to take action in the case. Cbc news, calgary. >> Peter: and that's the latest national and international news from "world report." for news any time go to cbc news.ca. This is cbc news. >> David: peter, thanks very much. I'm david common. You're listening to "metro morning" on monday, may 27th. What will happen at the university of toronto encampment this morning. Less than two hours until the deadline set by the university for protestors at that encampment to leave. At that point the university says it is seek a court injunction to have them removed. We have a reporter on the scene and continue to track that. Let's look at traffic and transit with jennifer allen. >> Jennifer: a collision closed steeles both ways at highway 27 but so far just dealing with delays on the major highways. Westbound 401 is busy from 412 to approaching salem and lieu kennedy in the express. The eastbound gardiner moving slowly east of parkside to approaching strachan. Southbound don valley parkway busier from the 401 to lawrence. >> Jill: a few things this morning. First of all, echo david said 8:00 A.M. deadline for the encampment for the university of toronto. Toronto police looking for multiple suspects after shots fired at a jewish elementary school early saturday morning. There is a rally in solidarity as well. >> David: watch out for thunderstorms through the course of the morning. 100% humidity right now. 19° but feels like 25. Going to get a bit warmer than that. Thunderstorm risk throughout the course of the morning standing at 80%. Not much in the way of wind though and the humidity you'll feel it sitting there. Fraudsters will stop at nothing to take advantage of people online after her facebook account was hijacked and a plan put in motion designed to play on the trust between friends. And how that was exploited. Rosa marchitelli here with that woman's story. Good morning, rosa. How did this woman find herself mixed up in a scam? >> It started with an e-mail where she was told to replace her password. So she did that. That e-mail wasn't from facebook at all but the beginning of a scam design today play on the goodwill of friends. The fraudster was able to lock her out of her account and for

days, david, she could do nothing but watch as her online friends were swindled out of thousands of dollars. All that time facebook did nothing to stop the crime in progress. >> I just felt help less and felt really bad for everybody. When facebook first came out it was a great way for people to keep in touch with people. It wasn't multitudes of ads and scams and I feel they should start to take control of that. >>. >> I am concerned her saying we warned facebook as it was happening. >> What is it about this scam that is designed to take advantage of friend. >> Once the account is hijacked the attacker can access private messages and in this case the fraudster posted an ad claiming she was selling her dad's things after he moved into long time care. Several friends transferred money for items they thought they were buying. One is her former neighbour carol stephens. She lost $250 in the scam. >> It would not have fallen for it except I thought it was my friend lisa. She's the most honest, trustworthy friend I know. I never felt pressured and never felt rushed to put a deposit down. >> Our investigation found lisa is one of many being targeted by the scam that the company is allowing to run rampant on its sites. >> David: how does that happen? >> It's a big company. Meta is the company behind facebook, instagram, whatsapp and more. What happened to lisa and her friends is one example of big social media players making billions from users while failing to protect them in an even basic way. >> This's no one to call. There's no answer you can second messages but never hear back. As a result what starts as a small issue is exacerbate into a massive identity theft or fraud fiasco. >> He says meta needs to invest much more into protecting users. Meta, by the way, made $185 billion in revenue last year. >> What we need is solutions. We need to have support. Whether it's human or an ai, the organization need to respond to peoples' actually need. >> Do we have a sense how common this social media fraud is? >> Last year people in ontario lost a reported $159 million in cyber related fraud according to the canadian antifraud centre. That is just the tip of the iceberg. According to the fraud centre, only an estimated 5 to 10% of fraud is ever reported. >> David: what is facebook, meta, say about all of that? >> The company says it does a lot to detect malicious activity on its site but go public found pages after pages with the same scam that got lisa and her friends. Nor did it tell us why it did nothing when lisa friends were being scammed. It said it has over 15,000 reviewers around the world who look at potential violations on facebook and instagram noting they rest in-depth training. >> David: billions of people around the world use social media. Lisa is one of them. Where does it leave them? >> He'd like to see the government step in with regulation that force companies that collect sensitive information to have systems in place, to prevent fraud and react to urgent situations quickly. Facebook users have to look after themselves. >> David: any tips? >> Don't use the links provide under e-mails. We know this. Many of us do. No matter how legitimate they look. These days they can look very legit. Go to the web site directly. Never reuse passwords and always use two-factor authentication.

>> David: rosa, thank you very much. If you if you want to warn others of what might happen with a company, contact rosa at gopublic@cbc.ca. >> Jennifer: water ponding in the curb lanes cure due to the rain over fight but the highways are drying out quite nicely at this time. We have a collision closed steeles in both directions at highway 27. The eastbound 401 slowing down approach the 427 through to the lane reductions at dixon. Volume westbound 401 from the 412 to approaching salem. Markham road to kennedy there the express and victoria park in the collectors as well as past yonge into the construction zone approaching avenue road to allen road in the express. Southbound don valley parkway slows from the 401 to south of lawrence. The toronto-bound Q.E.W. is beginning to fill in past east port to fairview. Beyond that, working well. Over to the eastbound gardiner. That's slowing down approaching parkside through to the long-term construction dufferin to strachan reducing you to two lanes in both direction. >> Thank you very much. 6:19 A.M. 19. Feels like 25 with the humidity out there. It will usher in quite likely rain, quite possibly thunderstorm over the course of the morning in spots across the G.T.A. shawn desman is the director of the city's move dance competition. This is shawn desman with "heels on the ground." [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] >> The latest from shawn desman. "heels on the ground." 6:22. For a second year food banks canada has put out a poverty report card. According to this year's assessment almost all provinces and territories falling shortage more that can be done to alleviate poverty across the country. The C.E.O. of food banks canada joins us now. Give me the big picture. >> These are grades wouldn't want to bring home to your family, your parents. Most provinces and the federal government are falling far short of what canadians need in order to stop the current crisis and make people thrive in the future. >> I'm talking to you of course

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