Meta announced on Tuesday that it has deactivated nearly seven million WhatsApp accounts connected to scam activities in the first half of the year. The company also stated that it is strengthening its security measures to better protect users from such fraudulent schemes.
“Our team identified the accounts and disabled them before the criminal organizations that created them could use them,” WhatsApp external affairs director Clair Deevy said.
According to WhatsApp executives during a recent briefing, many of these scams are operated by organized criminal groups and include fake cryptocurrency investment offers as well as get-rich-quick pyramid schemes.
“There is always a catch and it should be a red flag for everyone: you have to pay upfront to get promised returns or earnings,” Meta-owned WhatsApp said in a blog post.
Meta revealed that WhatsApp detected and banned over 6.8 million accounts connected to scam operations, with the majority based in Southeast Asia.
The company also disclosed that WhatsApp and Meta collaborated with OpenAI to disrupt a scam traced to Cambodia, where fraudsters used ChatGPT to create text messages containing links to WhatsApp chats in an attempt to lure victims.
Meta on Tuesday began prompting WhatsApp users to be wary when added to unfamiliar chat groups by people they don’t know.
New “safety overviews” provide information about the group and tips on spotting scams, along with the option of making a quick exit.
“We’ve all been there: someone you don’t know attempting to message you, or add you to a group chat, promising low-risk investment opportunities or easy money, or saying you have an unpaid bill that’s overdue,” Meta said in a blog post.
“The reality is, these are often scammers trying to prey on people’s kindness, trust and willingness to help — or, their fears that they could be in trouble if they don’t send money fast.”