(Bloomberg) -- Major Taiwanese banks are suspending their advertising on Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook due to concerns over rampant financial scams on the site.

Most Read from Bloomberg

• Paris to Replace Parking Spaces With Trees

• New York’s Transit Agency Approves $9 Congestion Toll

• Trump Promises Could Have Seismic Impact on Washington Economy

• NY Congestion Pricing Survived a Pause. Here’s What Could Kill It

• Tokyo’s Scorching Summers Focus Public Anger Against Tree Cutting

Mega Financial Holding Co., along with its subsidiaries and other local banks, is pulling its ads from the global social network, Chairman Ray Dawn told reporters on Tuesday. His bank has already stopped advertising on Facebook, after spending about NT$16 million ($490,000) on ads there annually, according to Dawn.

The surprise move follows growing pressure on social media leaders to do more to curtail online scams, which are on the rise especially in economies with aging populations. While the amounts in Taiwan are small, the concerted action taken by the archipelago’s lenders could encourage institutions elsewhere to apply real financial pressure on Meta and its peers.

“There have been endless scams on Facebook, with some fraudsters assuming the identities of banks. We hope Facebook can prioritize resolving this issue, so we will withdraw advertising on the platform with other banks in Taiwan,” Dawn said.

Ten local banks, including Mega and Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank Ltd., will join the campaign, he added. A SCSB spokesperson confirmed the joint action with Mega and said the bank had also pulled its advertisements from Facebook, although he declined to comment on SCSB’s spending on the platform.

A Meta representative did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“We will stop advertising through internet influencers,” Rachael Kao, president of CTBC Financial Holding Co., said on an earnings call. “We are willing to take down advertisements that are not from verified accounts.”

Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior said in August that online investment scams are the top cause for the loss of assets among the Taiwanese public. In July, among all reported scam cases, 97.9% of the victims saw fraudulent ads first on Facebook, and 2.1% on Alphabet Inc.’s Google, according to the ministry. Taiwan also passed new regulations in 2023 requiring online platforms to remove fraudulent investment ads.

(Updates with comment from CTBC in penultimate paragraph)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

• Jaylen Brown Is Taking On Nike With $200 Sneakers

• Trump’s Impossible Task: Delivering for the Working Class and Billionaires

• Wall Street Is Too Pumped About Trump to Worry About His Policies

• Companies With Immigrant Workforces Are Preparing for Raids

• Why Tech Billionaires Love the Author of Jurassic Park

?2024 Bloomberg L.P.