Island Games scammers multiplying

Monday 10 July 2023

Multiple scammers have been reported to Meta but the Facebook owner has said the fake Island Games pages don't contravene the site's community standards.

The organisers of the NatWest International Island Games have reiterated that access to all events, and the official live streams and live tracking are all available for free.

Scammers are commenting on any posts related to the Guernsey Games with links to their fake sites.

The Games organisers have issued reminders to everyone to be vigilant of these online scammers, and to not enter their bank details into any websites that claim to offer live streaming.

Games director Julia Bowditch said it was important to be alert online when following the events as anyone who does enter their bank details risks being scammed.

"We’re reminding people to be careful online because cyber criminals are trying to target our Games," she said.

"Fraudsters can be very sophisticated at copying legitimate Facebook pages so that they look entirely plausible, so please be very wary and don’t fall foul of fake sellers. It’s easy to let your guard down when you think you are among friends.

"We have repeatedly tried to stop this problem at source by continually reporting the fake groups and pages to Meta, the owner of Facebook. Unfortunately, Meta has always responded that the fake groups and pages do not contravene their so-called community standards. We have also been in close contact with Guernsey Police."

Guernsey Police issued a warning against the fake pages over the weekend, as the scammers' social media posts seemed to escalate as the Games got underway.

"The values of the Games are attributes like friendship, cooperation, inspiration, fun and enjoyment – so it’s disappointing that anyone could try to exploit the event for unscrupulous purposes," said Ms Bowditch.

The NatWest International Island Games official Facebook page, Facebook group, and YouTube channel of the 2023 Games organisers, are all called Guernsey2023. 

Ms Bowditch said there are ways to put extra controls over Facebook groups and pages to try and limit the reach of the scammers, but they are still finding ways around those measures.

"We have issued advice to all our member islands to make their supporters aware of these criminals. We have also issued advice about controls that can be added to Facebook pages that are being bombarded by scammers. Criteria can be added, such as not allowing comments with links, and not allowing comments from people with no friends or followers," she said.

One of the fake groups is on Facebook as ‘Island Games Guernsey 2023’. This group has more than 3,600 members, including many Guernsey residents. The page is using Games logos and cloned posts from the official page to create an illusion of authenticity.

Ms Bowditch said that group has been reported numerous times to Meta, and Guernsey Police.

Games organisers are asking anyone who is a member of ‘Island Games Guernsey 2023’ to leave that group so that it looks less credible, which may help with requests to Facebook to remove the page.