WhatsApp has closed over 6.8 million accounts linked to scammers who targeted people around the world during the first half of this year, parent company Meta has announced.
Most of these accounts were linked to fraud centers managed by organized criminal groups in Southeast Asia, according to the company Meta.
The announcement came as WhatsApp introduced new anti-fraud measures, including warning notifications when a user is added to a group chat by someone who is not in their contact list.
The campaign aims to crack down on an increasingly widespread tactic, where criminals take control of WhatsApp accounts or add users to groups that promote fraudulent investment schemes and other scams.
Meta stated that WhatsApp "proactively identified and removed the accounts before the fraud centers could activate them."
