In the latest iteration of an ongoing scourge, scammers have been targeting Australian internet users with ads falsely claiming David “Kochie” Koch, the long-serving face of Seven breakfast television show Sunrise, is dead.
Flicking through your Twitter, Facebook or Instagram feed – or even among the banner ads on your favourite news site – you might have been confronted with posts lamenting the television personality’s demise, as social platforms and advertising companies struggle to block the ads.
But what is it all about?
What the ads say
There are several variations of the ads, but the most common version currently circulating features an AI-generated picture of Kochie who appears to be crying, accompanied by a link titled: “A life well-lived and happy memories of Kochie”.
The tweet or post linking goes on to say:
Even though saying goodbye is never easy, we are comforted by the knowledge that Kochie lived a full and meaningful life and left behind a legacy of kindness, tenderness, and compassion.
Is Kochie really dead?
No. He’s very much alive and well, and very unhappy that his image is being used in this way.
Just for clarity I’m alive and well and enjoying @AFL #gatherround in Adelaide with all my family.
— David Koch (@kochie_online) April 14, 2023
This stuff is really giving me the sh#ts https://t.co/dEWajU0NF7
Why do they say he’s dead?
Since around 2019, a particular genre of online ad scams has attempted to get people to put money into fraudulent investor or cryptocurrency schemes using fake celebrity endorsements.
Many of the ads feature public figures such as Kochie, Dick Smith, Andrew Forrest and a range of others, claiming they said something on air that made the banks unhappy.
Clicking through the link people would be presented with a fake news story mentioning the “investment” the celebrity had made money from, which would then link out to a scam page inviting users to make the same investment.
A Guardian investigation into the scams in 2020 found the scammers are likely located within Russia.
It seems that, as people have wised up to the ruse and click rates likely declined, the scammers have upped the stakes. The ads have progressed since then to say various celebrities have retired, been arrested and, now, died.
Oh no the killer is working their way through the entire Seven line up pic.twitter.com/BKNN2EYbwH
— Josh Taylor (@joshgnosis) April 21, 2023
Do people fall for it?
Yes, unfortunately.
In 2021, Australians reported losing $21m in cryptocurrency investment scams alone to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s Scamwatch.
What can the platforms do about it?
The ads appear on multiple platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and in Google advertising – meaning they can appear on sites that use Google’s ad service, including Guardian Australia.
The tech companies have said it is a constant game of whack-a-mole to address the problem. The scammers change website addresses and the wording on posts so often that many do get through the roadblocks that are constantly being erected.
Facebook’s parent company, Meta, for example, removed about 1.8bn items of spam content from Facebook in the last three months of 2022 – 96.7% of which the company says was identified proactively.
Crikey reported that Twitter versions of the scam ads operate by hijacking the accounts of random Twitter users, then paying for promoted tweets that link to the scam. Despite the new Twitter owner, Elon Musk’s pledge to crack down on spambots, it’s not clear what, if anything, has been done to limit these scams.
What can regulators do about it?
Meta is being sued by the ACCC, which alleges the company “aided and abetted” the scams. The company has also had criminal proceedings launched against it over the scams by the Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest.
Meta is defending the proceedings.
That is about the extent of the regulatory or legal action, and it’s unclear when – if ever – it will bring these scams to an end.
