The Scam Tax Episode #1: Connecting the Dots Between Scams & Ad Tech
Overview
Scam ads have become one of the defining consumer protection issues of the 2020s. Everyday, millions of people encounter fake online stores, impersonation schemes, and counterfeit products on the digital platforms they depend on to connect with friends, access information, work, find housing, and shop.
While media attention tends to focus on “bad actors” and the need for consumer vigilance, digital platforms and the advertising systems they control play a central role in enabling fraudulent activity. According to Reuters reporting, Meta projected that scams and banned-goods advertising would account for 10% of its total revenue in 2024 — roughly US$16 billion. In the same year, scams cost Canadians $643 million, a 300% increase since 2020. How did digital platforms and the ad tech industry become a safe haven for scammers, and why can’t we count on platforms to fix the problem?
This fall, GoodBot and Check My Ads Institute are launching a four-part webinar mini-series The Scam Tax, which unpacks how scams proliferate in ad tech. We will look at the grifts, the incentives that allow fraud to thrive on digital platforms, the role of AI, and how platforms like Meta and Google avoid independent oversight through aggressive pushes for self-governance. Together with a stellar line-up of expert guests, we will shine the spotlight on the ad tech industry and figure out how we can break-up corporate power to make our online spaces safer.
Join us on November 3 at 12 PM EST for Episode #1, Connecting the Dots Between Scams and Ad Tech, to discuss the architecture and history of adtech-enabled scams. In conversation with Eric Szeto and Ivan Angelovski of CBC News' Visual Investigations Unit, as well as Arielle Garcia of ASG Solutions, we’ll explore the origins of the online scam industry, the types of online fraud schemes that target Canadians—including recent investigations by the CBC—and how the scam industry is evolving as AI tools become increasingly embedded across the ad tech value chain. We’ll also zoom in on how a lack of competition in the ad tech industry leaves platforms with little incentive to protect people online, who ultimately pay the financial and social cost.
About Our Speakers
Arielle Garcia is an award-winning independent advisor, advocate, and writer working at the intersection of digital advertising, privacy, competition, and tech accountability, with over a decade of experience driving transparency, trust, and accountability across the advertising ecosystem. She most recently served as Chief Operating Officer of Check My Ads.
Ivan Angelovski is an investigative journalist and producer with CBC/Radio-Canada's Visual Investigations team, focused on open-source intelligence (OSINT), data analysis, and forensic journalism.
Eric Szeto is a multi-award-winning investigative journalist who works on impact stories. He unearths hard to find information through documents, open-source techniques, confidential sources and hidden cameras. Past work includes investigations into extremist groups, drug trafficking, AI deepfake porn operators, and forced labour in the PPE and agricultural industry.