- Meta is stepping up its efforts to combat massive "pig killing" investment scams linked to organized crime and forced labor.
- The company is working with the police, technology companies and non-governmental organizations.
- In 2024 alone, more than 2 million fraud-related accounts will be banned.
Meta is using a variety of tactics to combat "kill-the-pig" investment scams on its platform, which can involve organized crime syndicates and thousands of forced laborers.
According to a blog post, since 2022, Meta has expanded its focus from fraud centers in Cambodia to those in Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates. These efforts have also involved working with police in the U.S. and Asia, as well as conversations with various nongovernmental organizations. Meta says that more than 2 million accounts will be banned in 2024 alone, at least some of which will be flagged as "Dangerous Organizations and Individuals" because of their links to organized crime.
The company added that it is looking at attempts to circumvent the ban, such as scanning for "behavioral and technical signals" associated with fraud centers. This data is used to improve automated detection and, where possible, block malicious infrastructure.
Meta also works with other technology companies. One example comes from a scam that originated in Cambodia but targeted victims in China and Japan. OpenAI noticed that the scammers were using its software to create and translate content, so it passed the information on to Meta for further action. Meta is part of the Tech Against Scams coalition, which includes partners such as Coinbase and Match Group.
'Piggybacking' is essentially a more sophisticated investment scam, whereby a criminal group builds trust through platforms such as Facebook or WhatsApp and entices people to send more and more money, often through cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. If the victim is no longer able to make purchases or request cash back, the fraudster disappears.
Many of the people who work in fraud centers are victims themselves, lured by false promises of work and forced to commit fraud - sometimes under threat of violence, Mehta explained. The company did not name any particular criminal syndicate involved, but said it targeted people all over the world.
