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Agence France-Presse

Social media giant Meta has announced a worldwide anti-scam awareness campaign aimed at protecting users from fraudulent schemes during the holiday shopping season.
The company, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, revealed it has taken down more than 2 million accounts linked to scam centres in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, the UAE and the Philippines this year.
In another example, the company said its enforcement efforts have removed 15,000 phishing URLs in Vietnam and 9,000 in Singapore this year.
Working with cybersecurity firm Graphika, Meta identified three major scam campaigns targeting holiday shoppers: fake Christmas gift box promotions, fraudulent holiday decoration sales, and counterfeit retail coupons.

Working in several languages, scammers are using sophisticated tactics, including AI-generated voice-overs and fake customer testimonials to lure victims, the company said.
“Scammers constantly evolve their tactics to evade detection and rarely target one single platform,” Meta said in its announcement.
This ensures that “any one company can only see a small piece of these scam campaigns”, it added.
The company has partnered with Rachel Tobac, a prominent internet safety expert and ethical hacker, to educate users about online threats.
Meta has also expanded its Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange programme, originally launched in Britain and Australia, to include banks worldwide.
The initiative facilitates information sharing about potential scam activities between financial institutions and Meta’s platforms.


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Singapore

Singapore saw 9,000 phishing takedowns, Meta says in scam centre alert

Meta has taken down more than 2 million accounts linked to scam centres in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and the Philippines this year. Photo: Shutterstock

Fake Christmas gift box promotions and fraudulent holiday decoration sales are among the scam campaigns targeting holiday shoppers. Photo: Dreamstime/TNS

Malaysian minister decries Meta for ‘no remorse’ as scams tap public for US$100 million

Malaysia’s communications minister said that Meta-owned Facebook is the worst enabler of criminal activity. Photo: dpa

Malaysia’s Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil. Photo: AFP

Asia’s scam menace prompts rare China-Asean-UN unified response

Gangs across the region are using online gambling, romance, cryptocurrency and foreign-exchange scams to target their victims – many of whom are in China or are part of the Chinese diaspora. Photo: Shutterstock

Myanmar police hand over fraud suspects to Chinese police at Yangon International Airport last month. Photo: Chinese Embassy in Myanmar/Handout via Xinhua

Inside the Chinese-run crime hubs of Myanmar that are conning the world: ‘we can kill you here’

The dock at “Gate 25” north of Myanmar’s Myawaddy township. Even the eight victims who spoke to This Week in Asia about the severe physical abuse they endured inside the compound did not know its true name. Photo: Alastair McCready

A busy market in Mae Sot on the Thailand-Myanmar border. Photo: Alastair McCready

An anti-trafficking sign near the Thailand-Myanmar border warns potential victims not to be “deceived into illegal online working”. Photo: Allegra Mendelson

Smuggled cars await collection on the Myanmar bank of the Moei River, as seen from Thailand. Photo: Alastair McCready

A new building is seen under construction at the KKII (Dong Feng) compound of KK Park in Myanmar on July 1. Photo: Alastair McCready

Buildings pictured on July 2 in Shwe Kokko, a small city of casinos, hotels and KTV rooms that experts says is ground zero of the Myanmar scam trade. Photo: Alastair McCready

Members of the Karen National Union ethnic armed group stand guard with their weapons near the Myanmar-Thai border in 2012. A spokesman for the group denied that any of its leaders were involved in the scam centres. Photo: AFP

China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang (left) shakes hands with Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing during a meeting in Naypyidaw on May 2. China remains one of the internationally isolated country’s few patrons post-coup. Photo: Xinhua

Asia’s scam crisis: fake IDs, bank letters, sob stories among ‘big red flags’

Scammers are employing more creative methods to hoodwink their victims. Photo: Shutterstock

A man rides a bicycle near the Yangon International Airport. Thousands of scam victims have been enslaved by scam agents in centres across Cambodia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Laos. Photo: Xinhua

An Afghan identity card shared by Nop’s scammer. Photo: Handout

Da Afghanistan Bank in Kabul. Photo: Xinhua

News

Asia

Southeast Asia

The company, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, said scammers in Southeast Asia were using sophisticated tactics to lure victims


The company, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, said scammers in Southeast Asia were using sophisticated tactics to lure victims.
