Meta brings anti-fraud features to WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook

Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, when a user receives a text or url or video call from an unknown person, they will be warned and given an option to send recent chat messages for AI scam review.

With more than four billion active smartphone users worldwide, cyber threat actors are coming with malicious ways to prey on naive people online.

There is increased cases of phishing, digital arrests, particularly in India, where senior citizens lost their hard-earned savings to cyber criminals on WhatsApp, Telegram and other messenger applications. The latter disguised police officers accuse potential victims that their Aadhaar card has misused to buy SIMs for illegal activities such as human trafficking and drugs smuggling. And, their bank accounts have black money.

They show fake Supreme Court or High Court orders of digital arrest and also coax them to send money to the criminal's account to authenticate if it is black or legal white money.

Before the victim could realise that they have been scammed, the bad actors would have sent the amount to multiple mule accounts to evade arrests.

To curb such online frauds, Meta has announced to roll out new anti-scam features to its social media platforms-- WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Messenger.

Anti-scam feature on Whatsapp.

During a video call, whenever a user tries to share screen with an unknown person (not in the contact list), WhatsApp will show a warning message. Scammers use fear and panic to pressure their targets to share their screen to trick people into giving away sensitive information including bank details or verification codes. With this new tool, WhatsApp users will be able to avoid falling prey to scams.

On Facebook Messenger, when users receives a text or url from unknown person, they will be warned and given an option to send recent chat messages for AI scam review.

Anti-scam feature on Facebook Messenger.

If a potential scam is detected, users will get more information on common scams, and actions will be suggested including blocking or reporting the suspicious account.

On Facebook and Instagram, users can also use Security Checkup to review the security settings and get recommendations on security actions such as updating their password.

Security checkup feature in Facebook and Instagram.

On WhatsApp, Privacy Checkup guides users through important privacy settings — like deciding who can add them to groups — to help them choose the right level of protection, all in one place.

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