Main Black Lives Matter Facebook page revealed as alleged scam run by a white Australian man

One of the biggest Black Lives Matter Facebook pages has turned out to be a fake page run by an Australian man according to a new investigation.

The movement started in America but an Australian has been linked to a fake page scamming money out of thousands from around the world. Source: Getty Images

An investigation by CNN has found one of the biggest pro-black Facebook pages in America is allegedly a fake and linked to an Australian union official.

The Black Lives Matter is a movement in America which started as the result of the shooting deaths of African Americans at the hands of US police.

A Facebook page titled Black Lives Matter racked up more than 700,000 followers with another linked Facebook Group having 40,000 members.

Both have been exposed as fake pages according to CNN, and are not tied to the official Black Lives Matter movement the media outlet reported.

The official Black Lives Matter movement Facebook page has around 300,000 followers.

An online fundraiser tied to the fake page had raised at least US$100,000 which supposedly went to the official movement- however, CNN reported that some money was transferred to Australian bank accounts.

Those fundraising campaigns have now been suspended.  

The investigation into the Facebook page found an Australian man by the name of Ian Mackay was constantly being linked to the page.

Mr Mackay, who is an official with the national Union of Workers, has reportedly been linked to a number of black rights websites beginning in April 2015.

The American news organisation was able to get in contact with Ian Mackay who denied any involvement with the Facebook pages and other sites and claimed he bought the domain name and then sold it.

In a statement today the NUW said Mr Mackay had been suspended while the matter was investigated.

"The NUW is not involved in and has not authorised any activities with reference to claims made in CNN’s story,” it said in the statement.

Mr Mackay was also registered to blackpowerfist.com – a Reddit- like discussion forum, and listed as an administrative and technical contact for blacklivesmatter.media.

CNN believes Mackay was also linked to two other accounts BP Parker and Steven Parks – both accounts were listed as administers on the Black Lives Matter Facebook group page.

Despite being notified about the possible fraud, Facebook did not take any action but has now disabled the BP Parker account.

The Black Lives Matter page has been taken down.