Don't respond to social media messages from people you don't know.Â
Meta says it's taken down more than 2 million accounts this year linked to overseas criminal gangs behind scam operations that human rights activists say forced hundreds of thousands of people to work as scammers and cost victims worldwide billions of dollars.Â
In a Thursday blog post, the parent of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp says the pig butchering scam operations — based in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines — use platforms like Facebook and Instagram; dating, messaging, crypto and other kinds of apps; and texts and emails, to globally target people.
In these pig butchering schemes — as in fattening up a pig before you slaughter it — the scammers strike up an online relationship with their victims and gain their trust. Then they move their conversations to crypto apps or scam websites and dupe victims into making bogus investments or otherwise handing over their money, Meta said.
They'll ask the victims to deposit money, often in the form of cryptocurrency, into accounts, sometimes even letting the victims make small withdrawals, in order to add a veneer of legitimacy. But once the victim starts asking for their investment back, or it becomes clear they don't have any more money to deposit, the scammer disappears and takes the money with them.
And the people doing the scamming are often victims themselves. During the COVID-19 pandemic, criminal gangs began building scam centers in Southeast Asia, luring in often unsuspecting job seekers with what looked like amazing postings on local job boards and other platforms, then forcing them to work as scammers, often under the threat of physical harm.
The scope of what's become a global problem is staggering. In a report issued in May, the US Institute of Peace estimates that at least 300,000 people are being forced to work, or are otherwise suffering human rights violations, inside these scam centers. The report also estimates global financial losses stemming from the scams at $64 billion in 2023, with the number of financial victims in the millions.
Meta says it has focused on investigating and disrupting the scam operations for more than two years, working with nongovernmental organizations and other tech companies, like OpenAI, Coinbase and dating-app operator Match Group, along with law enforcement in both the US and the countries where the centers are located.
It's also trying to better educate its users, adding warnings to Messenger and Instagram DMs reminding people to be aware of potentially suspicious or unsolicited messages from people they don't know. And on WhatsApp, if users are added to a group chat by someone they don't know, they'll now see a context card that will show who added them, how recently the group was created and who created it.
Tips for avoiding pig butchering scams
Lock down your accounts. Always arm your social media accounts with two-factor authentication. That puts a second layer of protection in place that will help keep you safe if your password is stolen. Meta accounts also can be secured with "selfie verification." If you get locked out of your account, you can snap a selfie to get back in faster.
Be very skeptical of amazing deals. If someone you don't know reaches out to you through social media, another app, or by email or text with what sounds like an investment opportunity that looks too good to be true, it probably is. Don't take the bait.
Know who you're dealing with. Scammers often impersonate celebrities. They'll copy the account of a high-profile person you follow, then reach out pretending to be them. Romance scammers operate in much the same way. They might tell you you look cute, then build a fake online relationship before scamming you out of your money. Even if you feel like you know these "people," you don't. Stay away.
That also goes for businesses. It's gotten a lot easier for scammers to impersonate popular companies through fake messages that can take you to scam websites that look very much like the real thing. If you get an email, text or message on social media from what looks like your favorite retailer offering a great deal on something you really want, delete it and just go to their real website directly.
