Marti DeLima

I'm really glad that you mentioned that because I think this is where the true solutions lie.

It's not about just educating the consumer.

It's not about just shoring up the targets because scams are going to change and consumers are always going to change.

We need to do more at the legislative level so that companies like social media companies, telecoms, that they take

more action in preventing the scam messages from getting to us in the first place.

The technical capacity of these companies to identify and flag scams is there.

I think what we saw with the recent meta leak about the profits that they make from these scam ads really shows that they're making a calculated choice.

to either show and host known false and fraudulent ads or not.

So the technical capabilities of taking those fake profiles down is there.

In fact, one of the most heartbreaking things that I hear from victims is how the scammer that has been

Targeting them and harassing them for years will create a new fake profile and continue to harass and target them.

And no matter how many times they report that profile as fake to Meta or to other platforms, it doesn't get taken down.

I would say that his company and other social media companies have a really important role to play in preventing the global devastation caused by scams.

And I think a lot of this comes down to the fact that we still blame the victim.

Some of these companies say, well, they're choosing to believe this information and they have to do their own due diligence.

That's not our job.

And if they pay money, that's on them.

And that message is so internalized.

When I talk to people who've been victims of scams, I ask them, who do you blame?

And after the scammers, thankfully the scammers are first, they blame themselves.