Jakarta, INTI - Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, disabled over 150,000 accounts linked to scam network in Southeast Asia. This action is the result of a joint operation between Meta and international law enforcement agencies.
The operation was led by the Royal Thai Police Anti-Cyber Scam Center (ACSC), the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the US Department of Justice Scam Center Strike Force, and other law enforcement agencies from various countries, including Indonesia. In addition to disabling hundreds of thousands of accounts, the operation also resulted in the arrest of 21 suspects who were involved in the scam network targeting victims in various countries.
Scam Networks are Becoming More Advanced
This operation was built on the success of Joint Disruption Week pilot program in December 2025. Under the program, the ACSC, Meta, and other law enforcement agencies intensively shared information and successfully disabled approximately 59,000 accounts, including pages and groups on the Meta platform.
Meta stated that the online scam network, which largely operated from Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos, is becoming increasingly advanced. According to authorities, this network even operated like a large-scale organized criminal enterprise, making it difficult for authorities to detect. Perpetrators typically scam victims by pretending to be romantic partners or offering fake crypto investments, and operate this scheme in multiple languages to reach victims in many countries.
Meta’s New Features to Warn Users about Scams
In addition to blocking accounts, Meta also introduced several new features to enhance user protection from scams.
One of them is a warning feature for friend requests on Facebook. If a user receives or sends a friend request from an account that shows suspicious activity, such as not having many mutual friends or displaying a location different from profile, the system will display a warning notification so the user can consider whether to decline or block the request.
Meta also added a warning for device linking on WhatsApp. In some cases, scammers try to persuade victims to link their WhatsApp accounts to their devices by entering a phone number, linking code, or scanning a QR code. To prevent this, WhatsApp will now display a warning if the system detects a suspicious device linking pattern, along with information about where the request is coming from.
Additionally, starting in March 2026, Meta expanded advanced scam detection feature in Messenger to more countries. If a user receives a message from a new contact that exhibits common scam patterns, such as a suspicious job offer, the system will show a warning. Users can also choose to share their recent conversations with Meta’s AI system to detect potential scam attempts. If potential scam is detected, the system will show an explanation of common methods and suggest actions such as blocking or reporting the account.
Moving forward, Meta said that it will continue to strengthen its collaboration with law enforcement agencies and industry partners to eradicate scam networks and enhance user protection across its platforms.
Conclusion
Meta Platforms disabled more than 150,000 accounts linked to Southeast Asian scam network through a joint operation with international law enforcement agencies, including the Royal Thai Police and the FBI. The action also led to 21 arrests of scam perpetrators. Alongside enforcement actions, Meta introduced new warning and scam detection features for its platforms to help users identify and avoid online scam attempts.
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