By Jemimah Wellington, JKNewsMedia Correspondent
PARENT COMPANY, Meta, has announced that its messaging platform, WhatsApp, has banned more than 6.8 million accounts linked to criminal scam activities targeting users worldwide in the first half of 2025.
The action follows investigations into scam centres run by organised groups in South-East Asia, where victims of forced labour are often made to carry out the fraudulent operations.
Meta stated that many of the removed accounts were linked to schemes in which criminals hijacked user accounts or added individuals to group chats promoting fake investment opportunities and other fraudulent offers.
The company said it “proactively detected and took down accounts before scam centres were able to operationalise them.”
WhatsApp announced the rollout of new safety features designed to alert users when they are added to unfamiliar group chats, in an effort to limit the spread of fraudulent links and mass-invite scams.
A safety overview will now appear if someone outside a user’s contact list adds them to a group, giving recipients more context before engaging.
On individual chats, WhatsApp noted that scammers frequently initiate contact via text messages or other online platforms before moving conversations to private messaging apps.
Many of the scams are finalised on payment or cryptocurrency platforms, often involving requests for upfront payments in exchange for promised returns.
The company also disclosed a coordinated enforcement action with OpenAI that disrupted a Cambodian criminal network running a fake rent-a-scooter pyramid scheme.
The fraudsters reportedly used ChatGPT to draft instructions for victims and offered payments for social media engagement to promote the scam.
Authorities in Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, and Singapore have warned of scam centres operating in the region, with police urging users to employ measures such as WhatsApp’s two-step verification to protect accounts from hijacking.
Meta said its enforcement actions were part of ongoing efforts to “protect people from scams” and enhance user safety on the platform.
