Meta launching new scam protection tools on Facebook, Messenger, and WhatsApp

Takeaways​

• Today, we’re launching new tools on Facebook, Messenger, and WhatsApp to help protect against scams, and sharing updates on how we’re working with industry partners and law enforcement to hold scammers accountable.
• In 2025, we removed over 159 million scam ads for violating our policies, and we also took down 10.9 million accounts on Facebook and Instagram associated with criminal scam centers.
• We recently participated in a major disruption operation with global law enforcement agencies, resulting in Meta investigators disabling over 150,000 accounts associated with scam center networks and also contributing to 21 arrests made by the Royal Thai Police.

Scammers are constantly evolving their tactics — and so are we. Every day, criminals use increasingly sophisticated measures to defraud people on our platforms and across the internet. That’s why we’re announcing new investments in advanced AI, tools for people to spot and avoid scammers, and partnerships with law enforcement and industry peers for offline enforcement.

Here’s a closer look at our progress and what’s next in our fight against scams.

Using AI to Combat Celeb-Bait and Brand Impersonation​

Scammers use subtle tricks and deceptive framing that are hard to catch with traditional detection systems. Our experts and specialists in combating scams built advanced AI systems that can analyze multiple signals — such as text, images, and the surrounding context — to spot a broader range of more sophisticated scam patterns faster and at scale.

• Detecting impersonation: AI offers a new and different means to detect scammers who impersonate celebrities, public figures, or brands. It strengthens our abilities to analyze fake fan sentiment, misleading bios, or associations with public figures or brands. AI can process far more contextual information about public figures, enhancing our ability to catch deceptive impersonations.
• Deceptive links and domain impersonation: We use advanced AI to proactively detect and enforce against content that redirects people to webpages designed to mimic legitimate ones. This technology allows us to identify a broader range of deceptive behaviors with higher precision to protect thousands of brands against impersonation.

Our Latest Anti-Scam Tools​

Across our apps, our systems find and remove malicious accounts. But we know that scammers try to avoid our detection and may not immediately use accounts maliciously. Our teams of experts built new tools to alert you before engaging with something suspicious.

• Facebook alerts for suspicious friend requests: We are testing new warnings on Facebook to help you navigate suspicious accounts. When you send or receive a request from an account that shows certain signs of suspicious activity, including when you do not have many mutual friends with them or they indicate a different country location in their profile, you’ll see an alert to help you make an informed decision to block or reject suspicious requests.
  
  
  

• WhatsApp device linking warning: Scammers may try to trick you into linking your WhatsApp account to their device. For example, they may pose as a talent competition asking you to cast your vote by going to a website and entering your phone number, followed by a device linking code on your WhatsApp. They may also try to trick you into scanning a QR code under false pretenses, which would then link the scammer’s device to your account.
  
  To stay ahead of these tactics, WhatsApp will now alert you when behavioral signals suggest a linking request might be suspicious. These alerts will show you where the request is coming from and warn that it could be a scam, giving you the chance to pause and reconsider before it happens. Visit the WhatsApp Help Center for more ways to stay safe when linking your device on WhatsApp.
  
  
  

• Expanding advanced scam detection on Messenger: We are rolling out advanced scam detection on Messenger to more countries this month. When a chat with a new contact may contain patterns of common scams like suspicious job offers, we warn you and ask if you’d like to share recent chat messages for an AI scam review. If a potential scam is detected, you will get more information on common scams, and we’ll suggest actions to take including blocking or reporting the suspicious account. Learn more here.
  
  
  

Advertiser Verification​

We are always working to make our platforms safer for people and businesses. Today, advertisers may be required to verify depending on factors like where they deliver ads and whether they have a history of not following our rules or the type of ads they run are more susceptible to abuse.

We are expanding advertiser verification, to help ensure that verified advertisers drive 90% of our ads revenue by the end of 2026, up from 70% today. It will cover the highest-risk categories, while the remaining 10% will come from low-risk businesses, like your local ice cream shop. The verification process helps promote greater transparency, limiting attempts to misrepresent advertiser identity. It is an important part of our multi-layered approach to help protect people on our apps from scams.

Taking Action Against Scammers​

We’re continuing to detect and disrupt sophisticated scam operations, including by working with industry peers and law enforcement around the world. We do this because we know that criminal networks target people regardless of borders and across messaging, dating apps, social media, crypto, and other apps.

We aggressively combat scam activity to protect people and businesses. Last year alone, we removed over 159 million scam ads, 92% of which we took down before anyone reported them.

We also took down 10.9 million accounts on Facebook and Instagram, associated with criminal scam centers. Throughout these investigations, we have observed growing sophistication in scam operations, and the industrialization of scams continues to grow.

Here are some of our recent enforcement efforts:

• Joint Disruption Week with the FBI, the DOJ Scam Center Strike Force, the Royal Thai Police Anti-Cyber Scam Center (ACSC) and global law enforcement agencies]: Through information shared by law enforcement partners, Meta investigators disabled over 150,000 accounts associated with scam center networks and also contributed to 21 arrests made by the Royal Thai Police. This is the second Joint Disruption Week with the Royal Thai Police since December 2025, after the first led to the removal of over 59,000 Facebook pages and accounts linked to money laundering operations and illegal recruitment schemes.
• Disrupting a cluster of accounts behind romance scams through Meta’s Fraud Intelligence and Reciprocal Exchange (FIRE): We removed, disabled, and unpublished more than 15,000 assets on Facebook and Instagram that used deceptive personas claiming to be Japanese women seeking relationships with millennials and older men, with some accounts also promoting gambling-related content.
• Nigeria Police Force, UK National Crime Agency, and Meta disrupt scam center in Nigeria: Our collaboration with law enforcement agencies in Nigeria and the UK led to the arrest of seven suspects who were allegedly involved in a scam center in Agbor, Delta state, targeting British and American citizens based in the UK. The syndicate used fake social media accounts impersonating cryptocurrency traders and Facebook groups.

You can learn more about our enforcement against criminal scam centers in our Adversarial Threat Report.

Raising Awareness About Global Online Safety​

Fighting scams requires more than technology and take-downs. It requires education and raising awareness, especially for vulnerable populations. We run awareness campaigns around the world with our partners to help people recognize and avoid scams before they happen.

• #TrappedinScamCrime campaign, in partnership with the UNODC, IJM, and US Department of State: We are supporting this initiative which has launched in Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, to combat online recruitment and human trafficking for forced criminality.
• Scam Se Bacho campaign, in partnership with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) and the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI): This year-long campaign features acclaimed Indian actor Neena Gupta and leading digital creators to help people identify and avoid online scams.
• Educational campaigns in partnership with Febraban (the Brazilian Federation of Banks) and Profeco (Mexico’s consumer protection agency): We co-created social content to share tips on how to spot and avoid scams during Cybersecurity Awareness Month and the holiday season.

Our global work to protect people against scammers is never done. We will continue to invest in new technologies, share updates on our progress on enforcement, and collaborate with partners to ensure a safer experience for everyone across our platforms.