In early 2019, we became aware that the name and image of Andrew Forrest, and misinformation falsely attributed to him, were being used to entice people into paying money to scammers. Such scams are abhorrent.
At Minderoo Foundation and Fortescue Metals Group Limited, we are doing what we can to try and alert the various social media platforms on which these scams are perpetuated. We have encouraged our staff to report incidents using platform protocols. We have also been engaging with the social media entities at an executive level, in an effort to stop the publication of these scam advertisements and to improve the identification and speed of the reaction to any that are published.
We have asked the social media platforms to take more pro-active steps to eliminate the scam advertisements utilising the technology available to them. Our negotiations with those entities remain ongoing.
We previously published a statement to help warn people about these scams and we want to confirm again that:
Mr Forrest has not endorsed or invested in bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency
If you encounter any scam, you may report it to the following agencies:
Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network (ACORN) https://report.acorn.gov.au/
Scamwatch – phone 1300 795 995 or visit https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/