Meta dismantles over 2 million scam-linked accounts

Meta claimed to have taken significant measures against scam centres across various countries, dismantling over two million accounts linked to these operations.

The company has targeted criminal organisations involved in schemes like "pig butchering", which exploit individuals globally through online platforms, convincing them to invest under false pretences. Meta has collaborated with law enforcement and private sector partners to disrupt these scams.

"The Royal Thai Police has been working with Meta on disrupting criminal scam centers for over two years. We've been able to share information so they can investigate and take action against the bad guys and help us hold the criminal syndicates behind these scam centers accountable," said Police Major General Teeradej Thumsutee, Commander of the Investigation Division of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, Royal Thai Police.

Meta's efforts focus on criminal operations primarily located in Southeast Asia, including countries such as Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos, and extend activities to the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines, although these criminal operations operate in a wider list of countries.

Their approach involves applying Dangerous Organizations and Individuals (DOI) policies to identify and ban entities from the platform, using a range of enforcement tools.

Meta's investigative teams are actively monitoring these designated organisations to prevent attempts to circumvent their enforcement measures. This includes tracking and disrupting scam operations worldwide, using behavioural and technical signals to enhance automated detection methods.

The company acknowledges that these criminal organisations operate with high sophistication and persistence, often crossing borders and platforms to evade detection. Consequently, Meta emphasises the importance of collaboration within industries and countries to address the scale of this threat effectively.

In industry collaboration, Meta has worked closely with peers to share threat information and disrupt malicious activities. For instance, Meta recently uncovered and addressed activity from a scam compound in Cambodia targeting individuals using content generated through tools provided by company peers such as OpenAI.

Meta has co-convened a Summit on Countering Online Criminal Scam Syndicates within the Tech Against Scams Coalition to enhance cooperation among international law enforcement, NGOs, and tech companies. The Coalition comprises a wide array of participants from the dating apps, social media, financial, and crypto sectors.

Besides directly disrupting scam centres, Meta intends to incorporate new product features to shield users from known scam tactics. These measures include warnings in Messenger and Instagram DMs and context cards on WhatsApp that provide group creation and member details when added by unknown contacts.