Meta Disables 150K Accounts Linked to Southeast Asia Scam Centers in Global Crackdown

Meta Disables 150K Accounts Linked to Southeast Asia Scam Centers in Global Crackdown Ravie LakshmananMar 11, 2026Cybercrime / Artificial Intelligence Meta on Wednesday said it disabled over 150,000 accounts associated with scam centers in Southeast Asia as part of a coordinated effort in partnership with authorities from Thailand, the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Korea, Japan, Singapore, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, and Indonesia. The effort also led to 21 arrests made by the Royal Thai Police, the company said. The action builds upon a pilot initiative in December 2025 that resulted in Meta removing 59,000 accounts, Pages, and Groups from its platforms and six arrest warrants. "Online scams have become significantly more sophisticated and industrialized in recent years, with criminal networks often based in Southeast Asia in countries like Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos running what amount to full-scale business operations," Meta said in a statement. "These operations cause real harm – they upend lives, destroy trust, and are deliberately designed to avoid detection and disruption." In tandem, Meta said it's announcing a number of new tools to protect people when scam-related red flags are detected - New warnings on Facebook when users receive suspicious accounts. Alerting users when they receive suspicious WhatsApp device linking requests by tricking them into scanning a QR code that would link the scammer's device to their account. Expanded advanced scam detection on Messenger that prompts users to share recent chat messages for an AI scam review when a conversation with a new contact exhibits common scam patterns like suspicious job offers. The social media giant said it removed over 159 million scam ads for violating its policies in 2025, and that it took down 10.9 million accounts on Facebook and Instagram associated with criminal scam centers. In addition, the company has announced plans to expand advertiser verification in an attempt to bolster transparency and curtail efforts by bad actors to misrepresent advertiser identity. The development comes as the U.K. government launched a new Online Crime Centre to combat cybercrime, including those fueled by the rise of scam compounds operating across Southeast Asia, West Africa, Eastern Europe, India, and China, by bringing together specialists from the government, police, intelligence agencies, banks, mobile networks, and major technology firms. The disruption unit is expected to commence operations next month. It's part of the government's new Fraud Strategy 2026 to 2029, which also outlines plans to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) to flag emerging fraud patterns, stop suspicious bank transfers faster, and use "scam-baiting chatbots" to deceive fraudsters and gather intelligence. "Backed by over £30 million in funding, the centre will identify the accounts, websites and phone numbers that organised crime groups rely on, and shut them down at scale – blocking scam texts, freezing criminal accounts, removing scam social media accounts and disrupting operations at source," the U.K. government said. Found this article interesting? Follow us on Google News, Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post. SHARE     Tweet Share Share SHARE  artificial intelligence, Cybercrime, cybersecurity, Facebook, Fraud Prevention, Messenger, Meta, online scams, Social media, Whatsapp Trending News Starkiller Phishing Suite Uses AitM Reverse Proxy to Bypass Multi-Factor Authentication Microsoft Reveals ClickFix Campaign Using Windows Terminal to Deploy Lumma Stealer ThreatsDay Bulletin: DDR5 Bot Scalping, Samsung TV Tracking, Reddit Privacy Fine and More ⚡ Weekly Recap: Qualcomm 0-Day, iOS Exploit Chains, AirSnitch Attack and Vibe-Coded Malware Open-Source CyberStrikeAI Deployed in AI-Driven FortiGate Attacks Across 55 Countries New Chrome Vulnerability Let Malicious Extensions Escalate Privileges via Gemini Panel Anthropic Finds 22 Firefox Vulnerabilities Using Claude Opus 4.6 AI Model Cisco Confirms Active Exploitation of Two Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Vulnerabilities OpenAI Codex Security Scanned 1.2 Million Commits and Found 10,561 High-Severity Issues ClawJacked Flaw Lets Malicious Sites Hijack Local OpenClaw AI Agents via WebSocket Coruna iOS Exploit Kit Uses 23 Exploits Across Five Chains Targeting iOS 13–17.2.1 Google Confirms CVE-2026-21385 in Qualcomm Android Component Exploited APT28 Tied to CVE-2026-21513 MSHTML 0-Day Exploited Before Feb 2026 Patch Tuesday 149 Hacktivist DDoS Attacks Hit 110 Organizations in 16 Countries After Middle East Conflict Load More ▼ Popular Resources Read CYBER360 2026: From Zero Trust Limits to Data-Centric Security Paths Identity Controls Checklist: Find Missing Protections in Apps 19,053 Confirmed Breaches in 2025 – Key Trends and Predictions for 2026 Self-Hosted WAF: Block SQLi, XSS, and Bots Before They Reach Your Apps