Meta announced new tools to help WhatsApp and Messenger users protect themselves from potential scams and secure their accounts. On Messenger the company said it is testing more advanced scam-detection for suspicious chats that will warn users when a new contact sends a potentially scammy message and offer an option to send recent messages for an AI scam review.
When the system flags a potential scam, users will receive an alert and a set of suggested actions such as blocking or reporting the sender. The feature is enabled by default and can be disabled by toggling off the ‘Scam detection’ option in Privacy & safety settings, Meta said.
Meta is also adding new warnings in WhatsApp to advise users to only share their screen with people they trust when starting a video call with an unknown contact, saying scammers may pressure targets to share screens to obtain sensitive information such as bank details or verification codes.
In August, WhatsApp introduced a security feature that displays a safety overview card when a user is added to a group by an unknown contact, showing the group’s creation date, number of members, potential scam attempts and instructions on how to control who can add you to a group. WhatsApp also notifies users when they are contacted by someone outside their contact list.
Meta said it has disabled nearly 8 million accounts since the start of the year that were linked to scam centers in Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines, and removed more than 21,000 Pages and accounts impersonating customer support. Earlier this year the company worked with OpenAI to take down a criminal scam center in Cambodia tied to a range of scams, from fake payment-for-likes schemes and rent-a-scooter pyramid schemes to cryptocurrency investment lures.