2M Accounts Deleted This Year: How Facebook Parent Meta Fights Pig Slaughter Scam

Facebook-parent Meta removed more than two million accounts linked to scam centers in Southeast Asia and the Middle East this year. These accounts have been linked to criminal organizations that use tactics like “pig slaughtering” to defraud people globally through various platforms, including messaging apps, dating sites, social media and crypto apps. Meta actively targets these organizations and works with law enforcement and industry peers to disrupt their operations and protect users from falling victim to these scams. The company also shared its approach to countering the cross-border criminal organizations behind forced labour scam compounds under them Dangerous organizations and Persons (DOI) and safety policies.

What is the “pig butcher” scam.

Every day, criminals target people around the world via text, dating apps, social media and email in so-called “pig butchering” and other schemes that try to trick them into investment scams. Among them, one of the most sophisticated frauds, “pig butchering” involves building personal relationships of trust online with someone, only to manipulate them into putting more and more money into an investment scheme, often using cryptocurrency and ultimately lose that money.

How these scams work and who are responsible

These sophisticated, often well-scripted operations involve some scammers casting a wide net to find potential victims, while others focus on building trust and convincing targets to send money. Once the scammers have extracted as much money as possible, they usually disappear, leaving the victim with significant financial losses.
Meta announced that it is actively fighting Southeast Asian organized crime networks that force people to work as online scammers. These “scam compounds” lure job seekers with false promises and then force them to participate in various online scamsinclusive cryptocurrency fraudromance scams (“pig butchering”) and impersonation schemes.

How Meta is fighting these online scam compounds

Meta said it is addressing the growing threat of online scam compounds through a comprehensive strategy that includes:

Dangerous Organizations and Persons (DOI) Policy: Designating scam compounds as DOIs, banning them from Meta platforms and using various enforcement tools.
Platform application: Proactively monitoring and disrupting fraudulent activities, removing accounts and improving detection methods.
Collaboration: Working with law enforcement agencies globally to share information and assist in investigations.
Industrial partnerships: Sharing threat intelligence with other technology companies to combat platform scams.
Product defense: Implementing new features and security measures in Meta apps to protect users from scams.
Awareness campaigns: Educating users about scam tactics and providing safety tips.