WhatsApp deletes nearly 7 million scam accounts globally

Meta cracks down on organized scams, deploys new security tools to protect users from increasingly sophisticated scams.

WhatsApp application icon on a tablet screen in Lille, France - Photo: AFP/TTXVN

In the first six months of 2025, WhatsApp removed 6.8 million accounts related to fraud - a record number reflecting the huge scale of the current cybercrime "industry".

These are not just individual scammers, but mainly organized scam centers that use forced labor to carry out illegal activities on multiple platforms at the same time.

Meta Group - WhatsApp's owner - announced this information on August 5, and at the same time launched a series of new security tools to improve fraud prevention capabilities.

In which the safety assessment feature will automatically activate when a user is added to a new chat group by an unknown phone number.

The test warnings also encourage users to pause before responding to suspicious messages.

Particularly worryingly, scammers have now started using AI-generated content like ChatGPT to lure victims.

This new tactic targets activities like fake likes trading, disguised pyramid schemes or cryptocurrency investment scams.

According to Meta, a typical phishing campaign often starts with text messages or dating apps, then gradually moves to social networks or online payment platforms to avoid detection.

The company traced and detected these activities originating from a fraud center located in Asia, and coordinated with OpenAI - the developer of ChatGPT - to stop this large-scale fraud campaign.

Meta's aggressive move reflects the trend of increasingly professional "scam factories", requiring close coordination between large technology companies to protect users globally.

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VNA

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/whatsapp-xoa-gan-7-trieu-tai-khoan-lua-dao-toan-cau-20250807191736241.htm