Meta Blocks 150,000 Accounts in Southeast Asian Scam Network, 21 Perpetrators Arrested
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has shut down 150,000 accounts associated with a fraud and scam network in Southeast Asia.
The blockade resulted from a joint operation between Meta and international law enforcement agencies. The operation was led by the Thai Royal Police’s Anti-Cybercrime Centre (ACSC), the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the US Department of Justice’s fraud task force, and other law enforcement partners working with Meta globally, including Indonesia.
In addition to blocking hundreds of thousands of accounts, Meta and law enforcement agencies also arrested 21 individuals involved in the fraud network that targeted people worldwide.
This operation represents a continuation of the “Joint Disruption Week” pilot programme in December 2025, during which the ACSC, Meta, and other law enforcement agencies shared information intensively and deactivated 59,000 accounts.
According to Meta, the online fraud network, which predominantly operates from Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos, has become increasingly sophisticated in recent years. Authorities report that the network now operates like a large-scale criminal enterprise carefully designed to evade detection by authorities.
Perpetrators typically deceive victims by posing as potential romantic interests or offering fraudulent cryptocurrency investment schemes. This method is now executed in multiple languages to target victims across many countries.
In response to the enforcement action against fraud-related accounts, Meta has introduced several new features intended to protect users from scams. As part of its fraud prevention efforts, Meta is testing a new warning feature to help Facebook users identify potentially suspicious accounts. When someone sends or receives a friend request from an account showing suspicious activity, users will see a warning notification. Examples of suspicious activity include having few mutual friends or displaying a different country location than the profile indicates. Through this notification, users can reconsider whether to block or decline suspected unsafe friend requests.