By Renju Jose

(Reuters) –Australia’s competition watchdog has filed a lawsuit against Facebook owner Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:). The suit alleges that the social media giant did not prevent fraudsters from using their platform to promote fake advertisements featuring well-known individuals.

The advertisements, which endorsed investment in cryptocurrency or money-making schemes, could have misled Facebook users into believing they were promoted by famous Australians, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) said.

In a statement, the ACCC stated that Facebook also “aided and abetted” or was knowingly involved in misleading or false conduct and representations made by advertisers in the lawsuit.

Rod Sims of the ACCC stated that “the essence” of his case was that Meta published these ads on its platform. It is claimed that Meta knew about the scam ads being shown on Facebook, but didn’t take enough steps to correct it.

Meta claimed that ads which deceive people or trick them out of money are against its policies. It uses technology to identify and block such postings and it said that the ACCC had cooperated with Meta’s investigation to this point.

Meta spokeswoman said that they would review the ACCC’s recent filing and will defend it. She declined to elaborate as the case is still before the court.

ACCC claimed that ads featured photos of Australian TV host and business leaders as well as politicians. Links to fake media articles included quotes and links to these images.

The regulator stated that scammers tried to contact users who had signed up to get them to fund the fake schemes.

Sims stated that he was aware of one scam in which a victim lost over A$650,000 (or $480,000). This is shameful.

Andrew Forrest (Australian iron ore magnate), chairman of Fortescue Metals Group, launched criminal proceedings last month against Facebook over scam ads that used his image in order to promote crypto-schemes.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission is usually responsible for handling financial fraud claims against corporations. ACCC was seeking financial penalties and said that it has been granted temporary powers to bring the suit.

Facebook announced earlier this week a program to train Australian politicians and other influencers in cyber security. This will help to prevent misinformation from spreading during the campaign for Australia’s next federal election.