Scam ads have appeared on the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) website.

Advertisements appeared in January and February this year that took users to a fake CNN news story about Bitcoin.

The page mimics the CNN tech website and contains the byline of a CNN reporter.

The story covered a new Bitcoin start up allegedly run by Elon Musk, directing readers to links that connected to Bitcoin scam websites.

BOM was alerted to the adverts by reporters.

The Bureau said they were “unacceptable” and has suspended the third-party company that provided them.

“There are numerous filters in place, both automated and manual. Clearly they have not been effective enough in this instance,” it said in a statement.

BOM said it could not tell how many people saw the advertisements or clicked on them.

A spokesperson said the offending ads not the only ones that appeared on its website.

“On the days they appeared, they comprised about 0.006 per cent of the more than 35 million ads presented on the bureau website,” the spokesperson told the ABC.

“It is still unacceptable and the bureau sincerely apologises that this was allowed to happen.”

Very few publicly owned agencies allow advertising on their website.

BOM began running ads on its website - one of the government’s most popular sites - nearly five years ago.