Meta, the parent company of Facebook, announced the removal of over 2 million accounts this year linked to “pig butchering” scams.
These scams, primarily originating from Southeast Asia and the UAE, involve fraudsters building fake relationships to lure victims into investing in fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes.
“One of the most egregious and sophisticated fraud scams, ‘pig butchering’ is all about building trusted personal relationships online with someone only to manipulate them to deposit more and more money into an investment scheme, often using cryptocurrency, and ultimately lose that money,” the company said in a statement.
Meta’s security report outlines the company’s ongoing efforts to combat these scams, which often begin on messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram or dating sites.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, scam compounds run by organized crime emerged in the Asia Pacific region as one of the major sources of ‘pig butchering’ and other scam activity. And while they are mostly based in Asia, scam centers target people across the globe,” Meta reported.
“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,” it continued.
Organized criminal groups behind these scams operate from compounds in countries such as Myanmar and Cambodia, using forced labor to perpetrate their schemes. Meta has been collaborating with law enforcement and NGOs to disrupt these operations for over two years.
“Using both our internal subject matter expertise and insights from external stakeholders, we are continuously investigating and assessing criminal organizations involved in this activity for designation.”
Despite these efforts, investment scams continue to rise, prompting Meta to enhance its detection methods and user education initiatives against such fraudulent activities.
“We’ll continue sharing regular updates about our work to counter scams more broadly, including safety tips and product updates rolled out across our apps, with more to follow in the coming weeks,” Meta assured.
