Meta has announced a comprehensive campaign to combat romance scams across its platforms, including Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram, revealing significant enforcement actions and new safety features before Valentine's Day 2025.
Major Enforcement Actions
The company reports substantial progress in tackling scam networks:
- Removed 408,000 fraudulent accounts in 2024 from Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Benin, and Cameroon
- Deleted over 116,000 Pages and accounts on Facebook and Instagram in 2025
- Implemented new facial recognition technology to detect impostor accounts
Common Scam Types Identified
Meta's research, conducted with Graphika, uncovered three prevalent romance scam patterns:
- Military Impersonation: Scammers posing as US military personnel targeting users across multiple platforms
- Celebrity Impersonation: Fraudsters impersonating celebrities to target victims in the US, UAE, Japan, and other countries
- Fake Match-Making Agencies: Kenya-linked scammers operating fictitious dating agencies targeting African users
Enhanced Platform Safety Features
Meta has rolled out several new protective measures:
- Safety Notices on Facebook Messenger alerting users to suspicious activity
- Suspicious Signal Detection system across all platforms
- Call Silencing feature on WhatsApp for unknown contacts
- Testing new warning systems for teenagers on Instagram
Cross-Industry Collaboration
Meta has strengthened its anti-scam efforts through:
- Participation in the Tech Against Scams Coalition
- Partnerships with cryptocurrency and dating applications
- Collaboration with law enforcement and financial services industry
- Global awareness campaigns with NGOs and creators in multiple countries
