Everyday, NZers are targeted by scams on Facebook. We tried to track down who’s responsible (and what they’re doing)

Friday, 15 August 2025

Investigative journalist Paula Penfold says she is “angry and infuriated” after her name and image were used in convincing fake Facebook and Instagram ads to promote a bogus investment scheme, leaving some New Zealanders out of pocket.

It took several days and seemingly a public shaming for Meta to remove a scam about Stuff investigative journalist Paula Penfold. Once Lloyd Burr found the minister in charge, he asked what the Government’s doing to rein in the tech giant.

It started with an email to the office of Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith.

“Scams is technically [Commerce and Consumer Affairs] Minister [Scott] Simpson’s responsibility, and online regulation is [Internal Affairs] Minister [Brooke] van Velden’s patch,” a spokesperson replied.

Van Velden’s office said the matter was either for Goldsmith, as Justice Minister, or Simpson to respond to.

Thankfully, Simpson’s office took charge and he fronted with answers over why impersonation scams - like the one using Stuff’s Paula Penfold - are still being allowed to flourish.

Simpson, self-styled as the ‘Anti-Scam Minister’, says it’s been a problem for a while and one he’s talked to Meta about. Meta owns Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp.

“I have made clear my expectation that digital platforms such as Meta provide at a minimum the same protections in New Zealand as they do in Australia,” he says.

Across the ditch, Meta forces any financial advertisers to be verified. In New Zealand, those verifications aren’t required, meaning anyone can post adverts - even if they’re fake.

“I understand Meta is considering updating its New Zealand rules to align with the Australian rules,” Simpson says.

Stuff asked Meta if this was the case but it didn’t confirm.

This is one of the financial scams on Meta featuring Stuff’s Paula Penfold.

Meta’s revenue for the 12 months to June 2025 was $299.2b, more than half the size of New Zealand’s economy, which has a GDP of around $430b.

Given they’re so massive, does Meta take New Zealand seriously? And is New Zealand big enough to stand up to them? Stuff asked Goldsmith about this on the way into Parliament. He rejected a suggestion that Meta’s a cowboy in the wild west of the web.

“I wouldn't say that. I've met with them recently and certainly given our clear expectation that they'll work both proactively themselves to deal with scams more effectively, but also maintain and build on good relationships they have with New Zealand police to be as seamless as possible,” he says.

“Certainly scams on social media, not just on social media, but across all sorts of platforms, is a major, major challenge.

“I have had conversations with Meta about other things including the sale of advertising for drugs and stolen property online using Facebook Messenger,” Goldsmith says.

Simpson recently established what’s called the Anti-Scam Alliance, a group of government and industry bodies which aim to “prevent, detect, and disrupt scams”.

Members of the alliance include BNZ, ANZ, Westpac, ASB, KiwiBank, Police, Netsafe, Consumer NZ, MBIE, the National Cyber Security Centre, Commerce Commission, FMA, DIA, IRD, Banking Ombudsman, the Telecommunications Forum, Google NZ and Meta.

“As an Alliance partner, Meta is actively working with organisations within the Alliance to find ways to reduce their platform being used to facilitate scams,” Simpson says.

Does it have teeth though? And why didn’t it work quickly in Paula Penfold’s case? Simpson says the Alliance is in its early days and there are plans to beef up its powers.

“The Government is considering ways to support this work, including amending the Fair Trading Act so that government and industry can have the confidence to proactively share scam-related intelligence and collaborate on disruption initiatives without breaching competition or privacy laws.

“It’s also exploring options for government agencies, banks, telecommunications companies, digital platforms sectors and consumer groups to share data about scams and shut them down in real-time,” he says.

Simpson recommends anyone impacted by impersonation scams or abuse should report them to the platform involved.

By the way, Paula Penfold reported her scam to Meta when she saw it in the way they suggest. She didn’t get a reply.