Meta removed 6.8 million WhatsApp accounts tied to scam centres in H1 2025, targeting romance baiting and crypto fraud schemes that cost victims billions. Messaging apps remain prime fraud channels, demanding proactive AI defense, safer features, and multi-stakeholder action. MEF CEO Dario Betti explores how industry coalitions and user education can help rein in rising cybercrime and protect the digital ecosystem.
In the first half of 2025, Meta deactivated 6.8 million WhatsApp accounts linked to criminal “scam centres,” many operating out of Southeast Asia. These accounts were tied to schemes ranging from fake cryptocurrency investments and pyramid operations to orchestrated campaigns promising money for tasks like liking TikTok videos.
WhatsApp worked with partners including OpenAI to detect and dismantle these networks. In addition, Meta rolled out new safety features: alerts when someone outside a user’s contacts adds them to a group, and prompts encouraging caution before responding to suspicious messages.
This is a welcome step, but fraud is not confined to WhatsApp—Meta’s broader ecosystem, along with rivals like Telegram and Instagram, remain key battlegrounds. In fact, Telegram reported blocking 90 million scam accounts in a single quarter in 2024.
Meta’s removal of 6.8 million WhatsApp accounts is a milestone, but it’s only one piece of a much larger puzzle. Fraudsters adapt quickly, shifting platforms and exploiting weaknesses across the ecosystem. ”
What Is a Romance Baiting Scam?
Romance Baiting, also known as “Pig‑butchering” (from its Chinese root 杀猪盘 “sha zhu pan”) is a long-term fraud strategy mixing romance scams with investment fraud. Scammers spend weeks or months cultivating trust, then introduce victims to fake cryptocurrency platforms. Once “fattened up,” victims are drained of savings, with little chance of recovery.
The financial toll is staggering. Definitions vary but the multiple evaluations all point at significant losses. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis estimates that cryptocurrency scams are on track to reach a record USD 12.4 billion in 2024, and that high-yield investment schemes and pig-butchering scams account for over 83% of all crypto fraud. On-chain security firm Cyvers reports that pig-butchering scams on Ethereum resulted in losses of over USD 5.5 billion across 200,000 identified cases in 2024.
The human cost is equally severe. The UNODC estimates that over 200,000 people are working on this, often under coercion, trapped in scam compounds in Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos.
Cybercrime Across Messaging Platforms
Romance Baiting is part of a wider shift in mobile fraud. In India by March 2024, Telegram (7,651 complaints), Instagram (7,152), Facebook (7,051), and WhatsApp (746) were all cited in scam reports. Conversational scams, where criminals build trust over weeks or months, rose 12× between 2022 and 2024, overtaking delivery impersonation as the fastest-growing form of mobile abuse. The GSMA’s Fraud and Security Group has warned that messaging remains a prime fraud vector, and some operators are now trialling AI-powered SMS firewalls to counter conversational scams at scale.
More to do in the ecosystem
Meta’s removal of 6.8 million WhatsApp accounts is a milestone, but it’s only one piece of a much larger puzzle. Fraudsters adapt quickly, shifting platforms and exploiting weaknesses across the ecosystem.
For the mobile industry, the response requires:
- Shared intelligence across operators, platforms, and regulators.
- Continuous investment in AI and real-time detection tools.
- Recognition of the human dimension, given the trafficking links behind scam centres.
Fraud on messaging apps is both a financial and human security crisis. With coordinated action, the mobile industry can help restore trust in mobile as a safe, global communications channel. For more information or to join the Insight Group, please contact the MEF team
