Meta has disabled more than 150,000 Facebook and Instagram accounts tied to scam center networks across Southeast Asia. This action follows a global law enforcement operation involving agencies from Singapore, Thailand, and the United States.
The operation, dubbed Joint Disruption Week, saw the Singapore Police Force assist in taking down approximately 4,900 accounts by sharing intelligence with Meta. The broader initiative was led by Thailand's Anti-Cyber Scam Center, the U.S. FBI, and the Department of Justice Scam Center Strike Force.
Meta reported that criminal scam syndicates often target Mandarin-speaking audiences and other regions, leveraging coerced workers trained to conduct outreach in various languages to lure victims. The company also identified common scam tactics including law enforcement impersonation, digital arrest scams, and cryptocurrency investment fraud.
Meta is also rolling out new tools on Facebook, Messenger, and WhatsApp to enhance user protection against scams. These include suspicious activity alerts and AI-powered scam detection to help users identify and report fraudulent activities.