​AG Bonta issued an alert warning Californians about the prevalence of fraudulent investment scams across Meta platforms, including on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, as well as on other online platforms. Scammers are increasingly using deceptive advertisements (ads) and deepfake technology to lure people into high-stakes scams in order to then defraud them of their savings. 

“Californians, we’ve seen an uptick in investment scams across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. These scams have cost some people their life savings and typically use photos of well-known or trusted people without their permission in order to create the necessary trust to get into consumers’ pockets,” – AG Bonta