Meta killed over 2 million "pig butchering" scams-related accounts this year

Meta is taking combatting scam centers to another level. The Facebook parent company announced that it has taken down over 2 million “pig butchering” scam-related accounts across Southeast Asian countries and the UAE.

The scam targeted individuals globally via social media, dating apps, and crypto platforms. These operations often exploit forced labor and manipulate people to work with scammers under threats of abuse. According to the US Institute of Peace, at least $64 billion was stolen worldwide as of the end of 2023 alone by this kind of scam.

“These criminal scam hubs lure often unsuspecting job seekers with too-good-to-be-true job postings on local job boards, forums, and recruitment platforms to then force them to work as online scammers, often under the threat of physical abuse,” Meta says.

And with that in mind, Meta has also been slapping warning messages on Messenger and Instagram to prevent these scams, as well as context cards on WhatsApp to help users recognize suspicious activities. The company has been working closely with law enforcement & industry peers to tighten its security belt against these scammers.

Last month, Meta said that it’s started testing the use of facial recognition technology to detect and prevent celeb-bait ads on its platforms and to help users verify their identity and regain access to compromised accounts. It’s also experimenting with video selfies for users to verify their identity.

In other news, an “AI granny” called Daisy from British network provider O2 is making phone scammers bored by blabbering about her life for 40 minutes, wasting their time & preventing them from targeting vulnerable people.