Fraudsters are using near-identical clones of HKFP and SCMP’s websites to deceive Hongkongers into signing up for a crypto scam named “Trade 2.1 Neupro.”
Meta has, in turn, been profiting from such campaigns over the past year, with countless “sponsored” ads appearing across Facebook and Instagram locally.
It comes as the platform suppresses updates from reputable news sources, whilst restricting HKFP’s ad account for erroneous reasons. Last year, Meta banned HKFP’s legitimate fundraising video from its platforms, falsely claiming it to be a political ad.
The current Trade 2.1 Neupro campaign features a fake endorsement from singer G.E.M., and is similar to a Facebook-promoted scam last year involving businessman Allan Zeman.
HKFP urges readers to hit “report” when encountering such ads, and ensure they can see the domain “hongkongfp.com” next to a “lock” icon in the URL bar if suspicious about apparent HKFP content.
