Stephen Dubner

So how does the FTC shut down a scam?

Marty DeLima from the University of Minnesota says one thing that is unusual about scam fighting is that it's a truly bipartisan issue.

Who cares most and least about stopping this?

Do local and federal governments in those places try hard?

Does the U.S.

government try hard to go after scammers who are attacking American victims, etc.

?

Why has it been slow?

So you said there are some countries that do more than others.

What are some countries that do less than others?

I thought you were going to point to, you know, Myanmar and Thailand.

The Federal Trade Commission, in addition to targeting the scammers themselves, is also paying more attention to the other players in this ecosystem.

Here is Katie Daffin again.

Regulators in the UK and Australia are pushing a more aggressive idea.

They want to make the platform and telecom firms share legal responsibility for stopping scam messages before they land.

Last year, Reuters reported that leaked documents from Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, show that 10 percent of Meta revenue comes from running ads for scams and banned items.

We asked Katie Daffin if the FTC would bring charges against Meta.

I asked Marty DeLima about this, too.

So when I look around at the ecosystem that the scammers use, it looks like Meta and Facebook is a pretty big platform.

It almost feels like it's the perfect silent partner in the scamming ecosystem.