Meta has announced a new wave of tools, tips, and partnerships to help people around the world recognise and avoid online investment and payment scams, which continue to evolve in scale and sophistication.
Scammers often contact people by email, social media, texts or calls with offers of “exclusive” or special opportunities, or invitations to join “investment coaching” groups. These scams often promise quick and easy returns with little to no risk on assets like shares of a company, cryptocurrency, real estate or precious metals and coins.
Here are four key updates in Meta’s latest anti investment scam initiative:
In-App Scam Alerts on Messenger, Instagram, and Facebook
Messenger now warns users about risky interactions, such as requests to pay before receiving an item or signs of suspicious behavior. Similar protections are expanding across Instagram and Marketplace.
Tools for Privacy and Account Safety
Users can now complete a Privacy Check-Up on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp to control who can contact them, who sees their information, and limit exposure to unknown individuals — often used by scammers to initiate contact.
Instant Payment Scams Get New Visibility
Meta is raising awareness about common instant payment scams that people should watch out for, including:
* Advance payments for goods that never arrive – when purchasing on a reselling platform, don’t make payments ahead of shipment or delivery.
* Overpayment and refund scams – beware of online sellers using fake receipts and charge reversals
AI-Powered Facial Recognition Tools Roll Out
Meta has started to use facial recognition technology to help us identify and remove celeb-bait scams, as well as enable faster account recovery via a video selfie verification feature.