LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — Attorney General Tim Griffin has joined 41 other attorneys general in a collective push against technology platform ‘Meta’ to safeguard users from fraudulent investment ads.

Scammers during the act start by sharing a series of recommendations in order to purchase certain stocks.

Consequently, the amount of these stocks shoot up after users make a purchase.

Scammers will then start to see profit from quickly selling or “dumping” the securities at a listed high price.

Prices later plummet as a result.

Classified as a “pump-n-dump scheme”, which is illegal and indicates securities fraud, the new owner loses a large amount of money when the securities’ prices drop.

“Facebook has seen a rise in fraudulent ads encouraging users to invest in pump-and-dump schemes that swindle users out of thousands of dollars at a time. These ads often use images of well-known businesspeople like Warren Buffett and Elon Musk to lure people into clicking on the ad to learn more about the supposed investment opportunity,” said Griffin.

“Meta needs to ensure that excuses are protected from deceitful actors as we stated in the letter the company should immediately review is advertising policies to ensure that we use our protect from scammers.”

Griffin’s involvement in detecting actions in relation to privacy and exchanging information through online platforms have been a consistent theme in his tenure as attorney general.

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The full letter can be read here.

The letter was signed by attorneys general of Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, the Virgin Islands, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming, and Columbia.