This week, WhatsApp’s parent company Meta revealed that it had shut down 6.8 million accounts tied to global scam operations.
Meta revealed that the deletion of the accounts comes as part of a wider push to safeguard users from criminal groups exploiting the popular messaging app.
Alongside the crackdown, WhatsApp is introducing new safety features to help people recognize suspicious activity.
These include a safety overview prompt that appears whenever someone outside a user’s contacts adds them to a group, as well as test alerts designed to encourage users to pause before replying to potential scams.
Meta-owned WhatsApp explained how these fraudulent operations work, noting that…
“these scam centers typically run many scam campaigns at once – from cryptocurrency investments to 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.”
The platform added that…
“scams may start with a text message or on a dating app, then move to social media, private messaging apps and ultimately payment or crypto platforms. In the course of just one scam, they often try to cycle people through many different platforms to ensure that any one service has only a limited view into the entire scam, making it more challenging to detect.”
