ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Many of the ads featuring the perfect holiday gifts on your social media feed may be scams. Nicole Schneller learned that the hard way. She clicked on an ad for Sugar Reverse drops but something told her to check the ratings first before completing the order.
“I started to proceed with the order. Something said wait a minute. You’ve done this before you’ve gotten in trouble before with this kind of stuff. Why don’t you go to see what kind of rating it gets first before you complete the order,” Schneller said.
She found the ratings were not good, like the one I found from the Better Business Bureau which gives the company an “F”. So, she never put through the order. However, the company went ahead and put through an order for $294. Schneller says the company refused to cancel the order and didn’t issue a refund even after she refused to accept the package and returned it.
According to its website, Sugar Reverse appears to have changed its name to Sugar Defender. The product is sometimes sold under the trademark Livorka, owned by Sunrise Selections located in Sheridan, Wyoming. That’s the address of numerous registered agents representing a host of businesses—some legitimate but also many reported scam businesses according to investigations by the local paper, The Sheridan Press.
Reuters technology reporter Jeff Horwitz says Meta, the parent company of Facebook, doesn’t want to know who is advertising on their platform.
“Meta doesn’t have any idea who someone is when they start advertising on their platform,” Horwitz said. “They don’t really want to put much in the way of verification hurtles to make sure that someone is a legitimate business because if you do that then fewer people end up buying ads.”
Meta insists it is taking steps to remove scam ads. In an email, a spokesperson wrote, “In the first half of 2025, our teams detected and disrupted nearly 12 million accounts – across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp… and removed more than 134 million scam ads. In addition to this, “we’re expanding our advertiser verification efforts to verify the authenticity of the people and organizations that run ads on our platforms.”
However, one of Horwitz’s investigations revealed scam ads are a $16 million business for Meta. While working for the Wall Street Journal he also reported Meta’s own internal analysis from 2022 found that “70-percent of newly active advertisers on the platform are promoting scams, illicit goods or low-quality products.”
“A lot of this is trans-national crime,” Horwitz said.
When asked if it’s safe to click on any ad on Meta, Horwitz said, “Well there are also issues with malware and things of that nature.”
Last month, U.S. senators called for an investigation of Meta following Horwitz’s reporting. But Meta’s spokesperson insists the company is a partner in fighting crime on its platforms, telling News10NBC, “Just this week, we supported the Department of Justice’s Scam Center Strike Force and the FBI disrupting a criminal operation…” in Myanmar.
That’s little consolation for Schneller as she fights to get her money back.
“If it was $10, $20 I wouldn’t have even put in the time, I hate to say it but it’s a good amount of money that we’re talking about,” she said.
As for Schneller’s refund, the makers of Sugar Reverse claim it gave her a refund, but Schneller says her bill does not reflect that. The company would not answer any of News10NBC’s questions about whether it’s a scam. A spokesman for her credit card company says it’s investigating Schneller’s case.
If you’re tempted to click on an ad for what looks like a great-priced product, here’s Deanna’s Do List:
Never click on sponsored content. It’s safer to Google the retailer’s website and buy directly from it. If it’s a product or retailer that is not well known, always Google the product using the product name followed by “scam.”You shouldn’t click on an ad even for a business you know. News10NBC found a scam ad for a Vera Bradley outlet on Facebook. The ad takes you to a website that looks perfectly legitimate with images stolen straight from the Vera Bradley website. For example, it featured a duffel bag selling for $31 that actually sells for $155 on the real website.
Always Google the real retailer, scroll past the sponsored links at the top and click on the actual search results.
Consumer Investigation: Before you click, ask yourself, is that social media ad a scam? WHEC.com.
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