“Is your Rego finish? (sic) Need to transfer registration from one state to another? Need an Unseen Pink Slip, Blue Slip Or Roadworthy Certificate? We've Got You Covered! Is your vehicle due for its annual safety check or registration? Don't stress—we make the process quick and hassle-free!”

That is how one scammer sets the scene to prey on unsuspecting vehicle owners, in just another fraudulent business that effortlessly slips through Facebook’s community guidelines. In the interests of learning more, I added the so-called business as a friend on Facebook, and sent a message to a page we’ll call ‘Unseen Roadworthies’.

I told them I was located in Hay, so needed to know where to take my 1972 HQ station wagon to get a blueslip. For background, legitimate blue slips are a vehicle check by a licensed inspector certified by Transport for NSW, for vehicles that have been out of registration in NSW for more than three months.

Usually they require a thorough check of both the vehicle’s safety and its history, to ensure it is both roadworthy and legitimate. My new social media mate quickly responded. “This is an over the phone service mate (UNSEEN),” they wrote. “No physical meeting or inspection of your car required.”

They told me to send vehicle details and payment and they would process the roadworthy and email me my copy. I told them I had no expired registration papers. “It’s my father-in-law’s old car,” I said. “We want to use it for a rally.” To keep the conversation going, I asked if I could send a photo of the old licence plates. My new mate said that was fine, and quoted me $280 for the service.

I asked if he could organise heavy vehicle inspections too, for another imaginary gift from the family. “We have a farm truck, but it might have to wait - it needs a windscreen and some work,” I wrote in our message thread.

The need for repairs didn’t faze my new friend. “OK Mate. I got you,” they replied. Needless to say, I sent no images, and removed them from my friend list. I spoke with a representative of Meta after using all my contacts to locate an email address for an Australian staff member. Joanne Stevens replied quickly, but couldn’t really shine any light on what the tech giant is doing to protect unsuspecting Facebook users.

“We do remove any content that violates our policies - including content promoting illegal activity such as fake roadworthy certificates - as soon as we become aware,” Ms Stevens said. “There is more detail in our Community Standards on what is and isn’t allowed on our platforms. “We report via our Community Standards Enforcement Report on what action we have Unseen roadworthies - the latest scam plaguing social media taken against violating content.”

I had a look at both those documents, and according to Meta’s Community Standards policy, scams such as fake businesses breach this standard, and so content would be removed.

I next looked at their quarterly enforcement report, which serves as Meta's way of publicly “grading its own homework” regarding its commitment to its own core principles of safety, privacy, dignity, and authenticity on its platforms. I looked only at the statistics around fake Facebook accounts, which Meta says 98.8 per cent are found and actioned by them, with just 0.20 per cent reported by real, human users. In the period of April to June 2025, Meta say they took action against a staggering 687 million fake accounts.

And that’s not even a record; in 2019 between January and March 2.2 billion separate accounts were actioned, meaning either content was removed or pages shut down. I decided to test the process.

I reported my new Unseen Roadworthies friend for ‘scam, fraud or false information’ about 4.30pm one afternoon. I received an automated message from Facebook. “Your report helps us to improve our processes and keeps Facebook safe for everyone. “We use technology and review teams to remove anything that doesn't follow our standards as quickly as possible.”

I set the stop watch and waited. 24 hours later I received a notification from Meta, advising they had reviewed my report. “We've taken a look and found that the profile doesn't go against our Community Standards,” was the response I received. Obviously this is incorrect, so I requested a second review and contacted Ms Stevens and asked her how this could happen given the name of the profile “Unseen Roadworthies” is very clearly either a dodgy operator or a scammer.

After my appeal and questions to Ms Stevens the page was finally removed from Facebook. The NSW Government Department Transport for NSW is responsible for road and vehicle safety in the state. They provided the following statement, when I contacted them about the scammer I had corresponded with; “Road safety is a top priority for Transport for NSW and the broader NSW Government,” a Transport for NSW Spokesperson said. “Making sure vehicles on our roads are safe and roadworthy is an important part of reducing deaths and serious injuries for all road users.

“Transport for NSW is aware of online advertisements and social media pages promoting fake or illegal pink slip offers, and we strongly condemn this behaviour. It is unlawful and will not be tolerated.” No detail on what action would be or is being taken was provided. Transport for NSW said there are currently more than 16,000 accredited and active Authorised Inspection Scheme (AIS) examiners in NSW. Only these authorised examiners are legally permitted to carry out safety inspections.

“Transport for NSW regularly audits authorised examiners and businesses across NSW – including in regional areas – to make sure inspections are being carried out properly and vehicles are safe to drive. “If minor issues are found that don’t compromise safety, Transport takes an educational approach. But when serious breaches occur, an examiner’s accreditations can be suspended, cancelled, and in serious cases, we may prosecute.

“‘Sight-unseen’ pink slips, where a vehicle is certified without being inspected, are illegal and a serious breach of the rules. “We continue to work closely with enforcement agencies and social media platforms to shut down illegal operators, protect consumers, and uphold confidence in the vehicle inspection system.”

Transport for NSW said customers who suspect a scam should report this to the police, or ScamWatch via https://www. scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam. After being told this was potentially a police matter, the NSW Police media unit was contacted, and I asked how often scams such as these are reported. The police were unable to provide much information on what happens if someone reports a fake Facebook page. So it seems Meta claims to be acting on scams, but in practice are completely overwhelmed by a deluge of dodgy pages.

The NSW Departments responsible for vehicle safety and crime seem unable to appropriately deal with cyber crimes that are based within the confines of social media. So that leaves you - the Facebook user and unsuspecting consumer - to sort yourself out, or risk losing money on unscrupulous scams. At time of publication, a simple Facebook search turned up a dozen similar scam pages, all ready and waiting to either sell you an illegal pink slip, or disappear onto the dark web with your credit card details. Buyer beware, because no one seems to be keen to, or capable of, protecting you.\