How my grandma got scammed on Facebook – Center for Countering Digital Hate | CCDH

“My grandmother changed her entire Medicare plan based on a Facebook ad.” Last year, Marissa’s 79-year-old grandmother, from Las Vegas, clicked on an ad promising her a $40 a month grocery stipend through Medicare. It was a scam. This is what Meta is profiting from. Instead of protecting users, CCDH found that the company earned $14.3 million from scammers. Marissa’s grandmother is not the first senior to be deceived by Medicare scammers: most of the ads in our dataset target people over 65, with 73% of impressions reaching these users. An unwanted change in health plans is not just an administrative headache. It can delay important medical care, cause serious financial losses, and put seniors at risk. “I wish Meta would crack down on these kinds of things. They’re blatantly advertising things that do not exist and cannot be attained to people who are on fixed incomes and are isolated. It’s absolutely cruel,” Marissa told CCDH. “If this was a scam, why would it be on Facebook?” Meta’s failure to stop scams that deceive seniors put a strain on the entire family. Marissa witnessed her grandmother reading her Medicare card number over the phone. She had seen an ad on
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