Meta disables over 150,000 accounts in crackdown on south-east Asian scam networks | Technology
Meta has disabled more than 150,000 accounts and Thai police have arrested 21 people in a sweeping international crackdown on Southeast Asian crime scam hubs targeting people around the world, the social media company said on Wednesday.
The operation was led by the FBI and the U.S. justice department’s fraud center strike force, as well as the Royal Thai police’s cyberfraud center, and Meta investigators acted on intelligence shared by law enforcement in real time.
Alongside the sanction action, Meta announced: a set of new protective toolsIncluding alerts for suspicious friend requests on Facebook and a WhatsApp alert system that flags potentially fraudulent device connection attempts.
One of Meta’s tools aims to detect when a potential Facebook friend is showing fake details about their profile (such as an account operating in a different country than the one stated in the profile). The tool provides users with details about the account, highlights potential issues such as a lack of mutual friends or the account has been created recently, and offers options to block or report the account for inauthentic activity.
Meta’s WhatsApp alert system Aims to detect fraudsters It tries to get users to link their WhatsApp numbers to a device that does not belong to them and thus gain access to their accounts. A pop-up will appear warning about the device connecting and suggesting that the activity may be a scam. The company also said it is expanding fraud detection for Facebook Messenger, offering users the ability to submit chats such as unsolicited job offers for an AI review to determine their authenticity.
Online fraud networks, many of which operate from settlements in Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos, have become increasingly sophisticated in recent years and are running what authorities describe as full-scale criminal business operations designed to evade detection.
Scammers working in these scam hubs lure internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments, and expand their operations into multiple languages to steal billions of dollars from victims around the world.
The latest crackdown involved the UK’s National Crime Agency, as well as agencies in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia.
A pilot action in December resulted in the removal of 59,000 accounts, pages, and groups from Meta platforms and six arrest warrants. Last week’s follow-up operation more than doubled that number of accounts.
“This operation is a testament to how sharing information and coordinating our efforts can make real progress in stopping this criminal activity at its source,” said Chris Sonderby, Meta’s executive vice president and deputy general counsel.
Thai police officer Jirabhop Bhuridej, deputy commissioner general of the Royal Thai police, said the raid “sends a clear message to criminals that authorities will continue to pursue online fraud organizations operating across borders.”
