Meta removes over 23,000 Facebook Pages, accounts linked to investment scams

New Delhi: Meta, in March, removed clusters of scam activity totalling over 23,000 Facebook Pages and accounts that primarily targeted people in Brazil and India, the social media giant said on Wednesday.

Explaining the modus operandi, Meta said the scammers used deepfakes, among other techniques, falsely depicting popular personal finance content creators, cricket players and business figures in Brazil and India, endorsing scam investment apps and gambling websites.

The scammers redirected people to messaging apps for 'investment advice' and, in some cases, to a fake website that mimicked the Google Play store to download scam gambling apps.

"In March, Meta removed multiple clusters of scam activity totalling over 23,000 Facebook Pages and accounts that primarily targeted people in Brazil and India," Meta said in a release.

Under Meta's ongoing efforts to promote scam awareness, the company shared insights and handy tips to help people identify and safeguard themselves against common investment and payment scams online.

Meta also highlighted safety tools that are available across its platforms, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, that help people avoid these scams.

Investment scams typically lure people into investing in fake or non-existent opportunities, promising quick and easy returns on assets like cryptocurrency, real estate, or shares.

Scammers reach out through social media, emails, or calls offering "exclusive" investment opportunities or access to "coaching groups".

Payment scams often exploit the speed and anonymity in the online world to scam people, it said, adding that a case in point is advance payment scams, where scammers posing as legitimate sellers on platforms like Facebook Marketplace ask for payment before delivery and then disappear.

It also warned about overpayment and refund requests, where fraudsters overpay for an item they've purchased online (or claim to have overpaid using a fake receipt) and request a partial refund. They later reverse the original payment (if they made one) and walk away with both sums.

Meta continues to work closely with Indian authorities and civil society to enhance digital safety, it said, citing initiatives with the Department of Telecommunications, Department of Consumer Affairs, and Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre.

Meta also highlighted its anti-scam tools, which can be effective in countering such fraudulent attempts, including warnings in Messenger.