New Delhi: Social media giant Meta on Wednesday said that it removed clusters of scam activity totalling over 23,000 Facebook pages and accounts in March, that primarily targeted people in Brazil and India. It also said that the scammers used deepfakes, among other techniques, falsely depicting popular personal finance content creators, cricket players and business figures in Brazil and India, endorsing scam investment apps and gambling websites.The scammers redirected people to messaging apps for ‘investment advice’ and, in some cases, to a fake website that mimicked the Google Play store to download scam gambling apps. “In March, Meta removed multiple clusters of scam activity totalling over 23,000 Facebook Pages and accounts that primarily targeted people in Brazil and India,” Meta said in a release. Meta also highlighted its anti-scam tools, which can be effective in countering such fraudulent attempts, including warnings in messenger. Generally, investment scams on social media lure people into investing in fake or non-existent opportunities, promising quick and easy returns on assets like cryptocurrency, real estate, or shares. Scammers reach out through social media, emails, or calls offering ‘exclusive’ investment opportunities or access to coaching groups. On the other hand, the Meta said that payment scams also often exploit the speed and anonymity in the online world to scam people and a case in point is an advance payment scams, where scammers posing as legitimate sellers on platforms like Facebook Marketplace ask for payment before delivery and then disappear. Under Meta’s ongoing efforts to promote scam awareness, the company shared insights and handy tips to help people identify and safeguard themselves against common investment and payment scams online. Meta also highlighted safety tools that are available across its platforms, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, that help people avoid these scams. The Meta also warned about overpayment and refund requests, where fraudsters overpay for an item they’ve purchased online (or claim to have overpaid using a fake receipt) and request a partial refund. They later reverse the original payment (if they made one) and walk away with both sums. “Meta also continues to work closely with Indian authorities and civil society to enhance digital safety, citing initiatives with the department of telecommunications, department of consumer affairs, and Indian cyber crime coordination centre,” the release said.
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