Facebook users are targeted by social media scammers (Image: Getty)
One of them - a copy of a bogus supermarket voucher - stayed live for 24 hours and was seen by more than 4,000 people. Harry Rose, editor of Which? magazine, said: "Facebook has promised to tackle scams head-on so we're disappointed that it took them a whole 24 hours to remove our ad, despite many comments flagging that it was fake. "Facebook and other tech companies urgently need to put systems in place to ensure their millions of users are protected from scams that could see them conned out of substantial sums."
A recent Barclays survey found that nearly a third of older people have been scammed, losing an average of £817.
Identity fraud cases are also on the rise, according to AJ Bell finance analyst Laura Suter.
She said: "People are willingly publishing their life details on social media, making these sites rich pickings for scammers."
A Facebook spokesman said: "We are taking action to stop fraud wherever it appears, and will continue to adapt to the increasingly sophisticated techniques fraudsters use to con people.
"As part of this work, we are donating £3million to Citizens Advice to deliver a new UK Scam Action Programme and creating a new scam ads reporting tool on Facebook in the UK."
Full details of the investigation can be seen in the latest edition of Which? Out today.
