Meta disabled 150,000 scam accounts that are linked to Asian fraud centers

Meta announced that it has disabled over 150,000 accounts linked to fraud centers in Southeast Asia . The deactivation was part of a coordinated effort in cooperation with authorities from Thailand, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Korea, Japan, Singapore, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia.

This effort also led to 21 arrests by the Royal Thai Police. This action builds on a pilot initiative, from December 2025, which resulted in Meta removing 59,000 accounts, Pages and Groups from its platforms and issuing six arrest warrants.

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“Online fraud has become significantly more sophisticated and industrialized in recent years, with criminal networks often based in Southeast Asia in countries such as Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos, effectively operating as full-scale business operations,” Meta said in a statement. “These activities cause real harm – upending lives, destroying trust and are deliberately designed to evade detection and disruption.”

Meta: New tools to combat scam accounts

At the same time, Meta announced a series of new tools to protect users when signs of fraud are detected, including new warnings on Facebook for suspicious accounts, notifications on WhatsApp for suspicious device connection requests, and expanded fraud detection in Messenger that prompts users to share recent chat messages for AI review (when a conversation with a new contact shows signs of fraud, such as suspicious job offers).

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Meta said it removed over 159 million fraudulent ads that violated its policies in 2025 and took down 10.9 million Facebook and Instagram accounts linked to criminal fraud centers. In addition, the company plans to expand advertiser verification to enhance transparency and limit attempts by malicious actors to mislead advertisers’ identities.

This development comes as the UK government launched a new Cybercrime Centre to combat cybercrime, including that fuelled by the rise of fraud centres operating across South East Asia, West Africa, Eastern Europe, India and China. The centre aims to bring together experts from government, police, intelligence agencies, banks, mobile phone networks and major technology companies.

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The unit is expected to begin operations next month and outlines plans to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) that will flag emerging fraud patterns, stop suspicious bank transfers more quickly and use “fraud chatbots.”