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Title: Meta says itΓÇÖs taken down 2 million accounts linked to ΓÇÿpig
butcheringΓÇÖ scams

Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2024 18:00:36 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-sa...

Meta is making progress in its fight against pig butchering scams. In an
update, the company said it has taken down more than 2 million accounts
associated with such scams this year and that its effort to work with other
companies to take down fraudsters has had some success.

Described by Meta as ΓÇ£one of the most egregious and sophisticatedΓÇ¥ online
scams, pig butchering is an increasingly common ruse in which scammers trick
victims, who they often find on social media and dating apps, into making
crypto investments and other financial schemes before disappearing with their
funds. One study, published earlier this year and reported by Bloomberg,
found that these scams ΓÇ£have likely stolen more than $75 billion from
victims around the worldΓÇ¥ since 2020.

Meta says itΓÇÖs been tracking the criminal networks behind these scams for
the last two years as these groups have increasingly grown their geographic
footprint. ΓÇ£This year alone, weΓÇÖve taken down over two million accounts
associated with scam centers in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, the United Arab
Emirates and the Philippines,ΓÇ¥ the company said in a blog post. ΓÇ£We also
continue to update behavioral and technical signals associated with these
hubs to help us scale automated detection and block malicious infrastructure
and recidivist attempts.ΓÇ¥

Earlier this year, Meta joined Match Group, Coinbase and others in forming a
coalition to jointly fight financial scams. In its latest update, Meta notes
that it has also worked with other firms exploited by scammers. It says that
OpenAI recently tipped off the social media company to ΓÇ£a newly stood up
scam compound in CambodiaΓÇ¥ after the AI company caught the would-be
scammers attempting to translate scam content.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-sa...
accounts-linked-to-pig-butchering-scams-180036668.html?src=rss

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