B&TB&TB&T
  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Technology
  • Regulars
    • Agency Scorecards
    • Best of the Best
    • Campaigns of the Month
    • CMO Power List
    • CMOs to Watch
    • Culture Bites
    • Fast 10
    • New Business Winners
    • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • Jobs
  • Awards
    • 30 Under 30
    • B&T Awards
    • Cairns Crocodiles
    • Women In Media
    • Women Leading Tech
Search
Trending topics:
  • Cairns Crocodiles
  • Nine
  • Seven
  • Federal Election
  • Pinterest
  • AFL
  • Anthony Albanese
  • WPP
  • AI
  • NRL
  • Thinkerbell
  • EssenceMediaCom
  • State of Origin
  • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • imaa
  • Channel 10
  • Cairns Hatchlings
  • TV Ratings
  • Radio Ratings
  • Sports Marketing

  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.
Reading: Gina Rinehart Takes Aim At Zuck Over Spoof Accounts
Share
B&TB&T
Subscribe
Search
  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Technology
  • Regulars
    • Agency Scorecards
    • Best of the Best
    • Campaigns of the Month
    • CMO Power List
    • CMOs to Watch
    • Culture Bites
    • Fast 10
    • New Business Winners
    • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • Jobs
  • Awards
    • 30 Under 30
    • B&T Awards
    • Cairns Crocodiles
    • Women In Media
    • Women Leading Tech
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.
B&T > Technology > Gina Rinehart Takes Aim At Zuck Over Spoof Accounts
Technology

Gina Rinehart Takes Aim At Zuck Over Spoof Accounts

Tom Fogden
Published on: 20th November 2023 at 10:31 AM
Tom Fogden
Share
4 Min Read
SHARE

Gina Rinehart, executive chairman of Hancock Prospecting, has penned an open letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, accusing him of doing nothing to stop scammers using her name and likeness to “fraudulently solicit money from vulnerable people”.

Rinehart said that in the “last few weeks” she had seen “more than 750 scams on Facebook, as opposed to only one on Twitter”.

“I’d appreciate more efforts taken in attempting to ­address these issues. Greater ­action is needed to stop scams and intentionally fraudulent content from being available and advertised to,” she continued.

“Meta needs to do more [as] innocent Australians are falling victim to job scams through Facebook”.

Rinehart wrote the letter on behalf of several other prominent Australians including entrepreneur Dick Smith and real estate developer Harry Triguboff.

The business people’s AI-generated likenesses are being used to encourage people to send money to or invest in business ventures such as cryptocurrencies and diet techniques.

The letter, dated 9 November, also cited examples of fraudsters pretending to be media personalities such as Tracy Grimshaw, host of Current Affair, and Today host Karl Stefanovic.

“According to the National Anti Scams Centre, Australians reported a record $3.1 billion lost to scams in 2022. This represents an 80 per cent increase from the year before. The NASC also estimates that about 80 per cent of all scams reported include some form of impersonation of a legitimate entity. This has happened using me hundreds of times, and my staff can’t keep up; there are so many”, added Rinehart.

“Beyond the tangible losses of billions of dollars, the emotional and psychological toll is huge. Despite our staff’s concerted efforts to report such content, there remains an alarming persistence of scams, and new ones increasingly emerge”.

Rinehart described the letter as a “last-straw act” and followed Meta’s apparent failure to respond or act on the “official complaints” lodged with the tech company by her staff over a number of months.

A Meta spokesperson told B&T:

“Scammers present a challenge in any environment, including social media. Meta is constantly tackling scams through a combination of technology, such as new machine learning techniques and specially trained reviewers, to identify content and accounts that violate our policies. We encourage people to use our in-app reporting tools when they see any suspicious activity. We encourage those who have fallen victim to scams to reach out to their local law enforcement agency”.

Rinehart is no stranger to throwing her weight — and significant fortune around in the Australian business scene. In 2015, it was announced that she would be suing the producers of the Nine mini-series House Of Hancock, alleging that the content was misleading and deceptive. In 2017, the network agreed to an out-of-court settlement with the mining magnate.

Last year, she pulled her sponsorship funds from Netball Australia after Noongar woman and Diamonds player Donnell Wallam expressed her objections to play with Hancock Prospecting’s logo on her uniform after Rinehart’s father publicly supported sterilisation as a solution to what was referred to at the time as “the Aboriginal problem”. Reinhart has never publicly commented on her father’s views.

A week later, Netball Australia announced a $15 million deal with Visit Victoria.

Join more than 30,000 advertising industry experts
Get all the latest advertising and media news direct to your inbox from B&T.

No related posts.

TAGGED: gina rinehart
Share
Tom Fogden
By Tom Fogden
Follow:
Tom is B&T's editor and covers everything that helps brands connect with customers and the agencies and brands behind the work. He'll also take any opportunity to grab a mic and get in front of the camera. Before joining B&T, Tom spent many long years in dreary London covering technology for Which? and Tech.co, the automotive industry for Auto Futures and occasionally moonlighting as a music journalist for Notion and Euphoria.

Latest News

YouTube Launches OpenCall Creator Casting Call Service As Creators Are “Swarming” Cannes
17/06/2025
B&T’s Cannes Diary: Saturday & Sunday
17/06/2025
Les Timar Exits Clemenger Group After 27 Years
17/06/2025
TV Ratings (16/06/2025): Food-Themed Superhero’s Take Top Spot In Entertainment Programs
17/06/2025
//

B&T is Australia’s leading news publication magazine for the advertising, marketing, media and PR industries.

 

B&T is owned by parent company The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.

About B&T

  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise

Top Categories

  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Opinion
  • Technology
  • TV Ratings

Sign Up for Our Newsletter



B&TB&T
Follow US
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Register Lost your password?