Meta Rolls Out New Scam Protections Across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp
MENLO PARK, CA – Meta is bolstering security measures acrossโค its platforms – Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp – with a suite of new tools โขdesigned to protect usersโ from increasingly complex online scams. Theโ move comes as reports of fraud โขcontinue โขto rise, especially targeting vulnerable populations.
Scammers โคare exploiting social media โฃto โฃdefraud โขindividuals of billions of โคdollars annually, with americans overโค 60 losing nearly $5 billion to scams lastโข year alone, according to the FBI. These schemes range fromโ fake job offersโ and shopping scams targeting younger users, to impersonation โand investment fraud impacting those in their 30s and โ40s, and a broad spectrum of tacticsโฃ aimed at seniors.Meta’s new protections aim โคto disrupt these criminal activities andโค safeguard its billions of โusers.
The company reports it hasโฃ already removed nearly 8 million fake accountsโ linked to spam operations targeting users through Facebook,Instagram,Messenger,andโ WhatsApp this year. New โfeaturesโข include proactive scam โคdetection within Messenger, which analyzes chats and issues warnings when suspicious activity is โdetected, along with resources for reporting and blocking malicious accounts.
Facebook and Instagram users will now see prompts โขencouraging them to utilize Security Checkup, a feature that reviews privacy and security settings and recommends improvements, includingโค the implementation โof passkeys -โ aโฃ more secure login method. WhatsAppโข is introducing โขa new screen-sharing warning that alerts users โif they attempt to share their screen withโ an unknown contact, a tactic frequently used by scammers โขtoโค steal โฃsensitive details like banking details and โsecurityโ codes.
While some โคof these protections operate automatically,Meta emphasizesโ that features like passkeys andโค Security Checkup require users to actively enable โขthem. The rollout of these โขtools is underway and represents a notableโฃ step towardsโข creating a โฃsafer โขonline โคsurroundings and preventing financial โขloss and emotionalโฃ distress caused by fraudulent schemes.