Disinformation for profit: scammers cash in on conspiracy theories

Some accounts claiming to support the Canada trucker protests are run by con artists abroad

When Facebook removed dozens of groups dedicated to Canada's anti-government Freedom Convoy" protests earlier this month, it didn't do so because of extremism or conspiracies rife within the protests. It was because the groups were being run by scam artists.

Networks of spammers and profiteers, some based as far afield as Vietnam or Romania, had set up the groups using fake or hacked Facebook accounts in an attempt to make money off of the political turmoil.