Meta has confirmed that every day criminals are using text messaging, dating apps, social media and email to further scams and fraud, most commonly what are known as pig-butchering scams whereby victims are fleeced into fraudulent investment schemes. But Meta is fighting back and, across 2024 alone, it has closed down more than two million accounts being used by organized crime for this purpose on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Here’s what you need know.
Facebook, Instagram And WhatsApp Accounts Closed By Meta As Organized Crime Groups Targeted
In a Nov. 21 report, “Cracking Down On Organized Crime Behind Scam Centers,” Meta has detailed just how it is taking action to target organized crime groups behind pig-butchering scams in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines. “We’re going after the criminal organizations behind pig butchering and other schemes,” Meta said, “which target people globally through messaging, dating, social media and crypto and other apps to convince them to invest under false pretenses.”
This report represents the first time that Meta has shared details of how it approaches the countering of cross-border criminal activity, in particular those organizations behind forced-labor “scam compounds.” Meta has a Dangerous Organizations and Individuals safety policy that makes it clear there is no place on Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp “for groups or individuals that promote violence, organized crime, hate or terrorism.”
The Meta intelligence report reveals how criminally operated scam compounds are put into play which force workers to engage in everything from cryptocurrency and loan fraud, to the type of pig-butchering already mentioned. “We assess that much of the scam centers’ activity is tightly scripted by criminal syndicates to scale their operations,” Meta said, “it includes some forced-labor scammers focusing on casting a wide net online to ‘spray and pray’ by reaching out to a large number of people via text message or online with a relatively generic appeal in hopes that some of them will respond.”
Scammers Target Facebook, Instagram And WhatsApp
Meta explained in the intelligence analysis report how scammers usually start their attacks on dating apps, or by text message, email, social media such as Facebook and Instagram, or by way of messaging apps such as WhatsApp. All of this is a pretence to moving the conversation, and that scam attack itself, into an environment where it can be more closely controlled by the criminal gangs, such as crypto apps or scam websites.
Meta said that it set up critical partnerships with key external partners in order to ensure it is taking a holistic approach to defending users against a wide range ion such scams. This means that, during the past two years, Meta has “stood up teams and systems to help identify and go after these scam hotspots globally under our DOI and safety policies.” These actions can be broken down into four main categories
- Dangerous organizations and individuals policy: used to disrupt organized crime, continuously investigate and assess criminal organizations and, once identified, banning them from all Meta platforms.
- On-platform enforcements: the monitoring of these dangerous organizations and individuals as they attempt to circumvent account banning enforcement. This includes looking for new scam compounds globally and continuously disrupting their operations, Meta said.
- Working with others: part of the focus of Meta operations is to counter and deter others from using its platforms for illegal purposes. “We know that these are extremely persistent and well-resourced criminal organizations working to evolve their tactics and evade detection,” Meta said, “this makes collaboration within industries and countries even more critical.
- ”Law enforcement: and finally, as part of the threat disruption effort, Meta works with global law enforcement to share intelligence and help them protect their communities wherever they are.
Meta concluded this new threat intelligence report by confirming that it is constantly rolling out new product features, across its Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp platforms, to help protect users from scammers at scale. “We will show you a warning in Messenger and Instagram DMs reminding you to be aware of potentially suspicious interactions or cold outreach from people you don’t know,” Meta said, “so you can slow down and review before accepting a message request. On WhatsApp, Meta explained, if you’re added to a group chat by someone you don’t know, “you’ll now see a context card giving you more information about the group—it’ll show who added you, how recently the group was created and who created it so you have context on this outreach.”
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