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Meta has shut down over two million accounts linked to scam campaigns to combat digital scams globally. These efforts primarily targeted “pig butchering” scams and other fraud schemes, marking a major step in Meta’s ongoing fight against organized crime groups.
Meta Partners with Law Enforcement
In the past two years, Meta, the company behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has worked with law enforcement agencies and industry partners to disrupt scam networks located in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, the United Arab Emirates, and the Philippines. Meta’s Dangerous Organizations and Individuals (DOI) policies have played a central role in identifying and banning these accounts.
“We’re going after the criminal organizations behind pig butchering and other schemes,” Meta said in a statement, where they further emphasized their commitment to stopping incidents through a variety of apps globally.
Pig butchering is a form of elaborate fraud that often begins with building personal relationships online, whether through dating apps, text messages, or social media. When trust is built, victims will eventually succumb to investing in their bogus investments. It is usually done through cryptocurrency. Occasionally, a victim is allowed to withdraw small amounts of money. This builds their trust further before larger sums are stolen.
Meta’s strategy involves partnering with other tech companies under the Tech Against Scams coalition. The coalition is composed of dating app operators and cryptocurrency firms. Their partnerships aim to raise awareness of scam threats.
The scale of their activities has been unprecedentedly growing, with up to $64 billion reportedly stolen globally as of the end of 2023. These crime groups began organizing during the COVID-19 pandemic and, since then, have expanded globally with operations in Southeast Asia. These expansions include establishing scam centers that force people into participating in scams under threats of physical abuse.
Meta has also introduced new features across their platforms to help users recognize and avoid scams. For instance, Facebook Messenger and Instagram Direct Messages will now warn users of suspicious interactions from unknown individuals. WhatsApp will also notify users when someone they don’t know adds them to a group chat. This makes it harder for scammers to reach new victims.
Critics Call for Proactive Measures
But some believe more needs to be done. Jake Sims, co-founder of Operation Shamrock, argues that Meta’s actions, while important, do not fully address the scale of the problem. “Given the scale of the problem, this sort of reactive response is not proportional to the crime,” Sims told NBC News. He suggested that only proactive measures can truly make a dent in scam activity.
“After three years of Meta’s awareness of this problem on their platforms, the situation is getting worse, not better,” he added.
Meta is fighting back against organized crime, but their extensive efforts showcase the difficulties of combating digital scams in today’s world. By collaborating with law enforcement and other technology companies, Meta is working to disrupt scam operations at its source and help protect users from falling victim to increasingly sophisticated fraud schemes.
