Tractor parade fears fake Facebook page scams

Tractor parade fears fake Facebook page scams

More than 190 tractor drivers have already signed up to take part in this year's event

A charity event organiser says Facebook needs to do more to protect its supporters from fake online profiles that have been set up for a third year running.

The Suffolk Tractor Light Parade will see about 200 vehicles travel around the east of the county on 13 December.

As in 2024 and 2025, Facebook pages posing as the official event were set up, and the genuine organisers feared supporters could be asked to donate to scam accounts.

Organiser Liz Quickenden said she had repeatedly reported the issue to Facebook owner Meta, but had been told its guidelines had not been violated.

After being contacted by the BBC Meta acknowledged the pages had violated policies and removed them.

"It has taken the BBC to approach them for them to do anything about it, and that says everything, so they absolutely need to do more," said Quickenden.

"Trying to speak to a human is impossible, so it's really hard to get these things taken down; it's exhausting; I'm lost as to what we can do."

Organiser Liz Quickenden is worried the fake pages may put people off donating

Quickenden said those behind the fake accounts – be it humans or bots – were using the event's imagery and wording, yet she had still received "no support" from Meta.

"It's infuriating because we're just trying to do something good, but we have no idea who these people are," she added.

The charity ride-out has become an annual tradition in Suffolk and for many marks the start of the festive season

The parade was started as a "very small event with just 30 tractors" after the Covid-19 pandemic as a way to raise money for local charities.

The ride-out starts and ends in Campsea Ashe and takes in Woodbridge, Rendlesham and Wickham Market.

Now in its fifth year, the event has raised more than £45,000.

The good causes due to benefit from this year's event will be Brave Futures, Home Start Suffolk, and YANA: You Are Not Alone.

However, Quickenden worries its always-generous supporters may start to feel more reluctant to donate or get involved out of fear of being scammed.

The fake Facebook accounts are not believed to have directly contacted anyone yet this year, but in the past tractor owners have asked to transfer money into a bank up front to take part.

Quickenden said supporters who had inadvertently followed fake accounts had been messaged in previous years. She emphasised that donations could only be made through the event's official website

"It just makes everything a little bit more stressful, but this is about us being proactive rather than reactive," said Quickenden.

"I obviously can't swear, but what I would like to say is probably not publishable."

Meta told the BBC it was always developing new ways to make it harder for scammers to operate on its platforms.

Last year alone it said it took down more than 159 million scam ads, with more than 92% detected proactively before anyone reported them, and also removed 10.9 million accounts associated with criminal scam centers.