Meta launches global anti-scam awareness campaign ahead of holiday season

As the holiday shopping season kicks off around the world, Meta today announced the launch of a global anti-scam awareness campaign to help people stay safe online and on apps.

 

In addition to Meta’s ongoing detection and enforcement against scams, the company is also working with open-source researchers at Graphika to find and disrupt scams that take advantage of the holiday season.

 

One of the common scams during the holiday season is ‘holiday coupons.’ “We disrupted scammers offering people in the US, India, and the UK fake coupons and gift cards in an attempt to trick them into providing personal information,” said David Agranovich, director of security policy, Meta, on a video call.

   

These scammers used several platforms, including Telegram, Facebook, and Pinterest, and directed people to websites mimicking social media, where they were prompted to fill out a survey with their gender, age, income, employment status, and level of interest in cryptocurrencies in order to enter a prize draw.

 

From this holiday season, Agranovich said that on WhatsApp, users will receive a context card providing more information about a user or group.

 

For Instagram users, if the platform detects potentially scammy activity in follow requests, Meta will remind users to be cautious of suspicious interactions.

 

On Marketplace, Meta has rolled out warnings to alert users if messages follow patterns of known scam scenarios.