Meta recently announced the launch of a new round of anti-fraud features in many of its social applications, covering WhatsApp, Facebook and Messenger. Meta will also cooperate with law enforcement agencies and industry partners in various countries to strengthen the fight against fraud at the offline level.
On the Facebook platform, Meta is testing a new warning mechanism for "suspicious account requests": when users send or receive friend requests to suspected suspicious accounts, the system will proactively send out reminders. The basis for judgment includes "red flag" signals such as whether there are no mutual friends, whether the account is located in a country different from the user's, and whether the account has just been registered, thereby helping users identify potential fraud risks.
WhatsApp has added an "abnormal device link" reminder based on its existing security features. When the system detects a suspicious device link request, the user is warned that this may be a scam. A typical scenario is that scammers induce users to bind the other party's device to their WhatsApp account without their knowledge by guiding users to scan QR codes. The new version of the prompt will not only indicate that such operations are risky, but also display the source information of the device's link request to facilitate further judgment by users.
On Messenger, Meta said it will expand its "fraud detection" feature to more countries this month. This function analyzes whether the content of messages from new contacts matches common fraud patterns, such as suspicious job opportunity information, etc. Once an abnormality is found, it will alert the user to help them be more vigilant in the initial contact stage.
Regarding advertising on the platform, Meta also proposed to further strengthen the advertiser verification mechanism. The company plans to focus on high-risk categories and hopes to increase the share of advertising revenue contributed by verified advertisers to 90% by the end of this year, from about 70% currently. The remaining about 10 percent will come from lower-risk business types, such as small businesses like local ice cream shops.
Data released by Meta shows that the company removed more than 159 million ads for suspected scams last year and shut down 10.9 million Facebook and Instagram accounts linked to centers of criminal fraud. Meta pointed out that fraud has become increasingly professional and industrialized, so this threat must be dealt with in a multi-pronged manner through technology, rules and cooperation.
In terms of law enforcement cooperation, Meta mentioned that in a recent joint operation with the Royal Thai Police, a total of 21 people were arrested, and Meta investigators simultaneously disabled more than 150,000 accounts related to the fraud center network. In addition, Meta has launched publicity campaigns in multiple regions to increase users’ anti-fraud awareness and help users identify risks before fraud occurs.
One of the promotional activities, called "Trapped in Scam Crime", was launched by Meta in conjunction with the U.S. State Department and other agencies in Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and other countries and regions. This activity focuses on issues such as telecommunications network fraud and population deception, and aims to let more people understand how fraud operates through case education and information dissemination, and reduce the possibility of falling into the scam or being coerced into participating in the fraud.