Meta and the Australian Federal Police have joined an international operation that disabled more than 150,000 social media accounts linked to scam networks in Southeast Asia, with the Royal Thai Police making 21 arrests.
The second Joint Disruption Week, hosted by the Royal Thai Police Anti Cyber Scam Centre, also involved the FBI and law enforcement agencies from Singapore, Indonesia, Korea, New Zealand, Japan, Canada and the UK.
The operation targeted criminal syndicates running fake "digital arrest" scams — where fraudsters use video calls to pressure victims into paying fictitious fines — and fraudulent cryptocurrency investment schemes.
"The Australian Federal Police is proud to support and participate in the joint disruption week with Royal Thai Police, tech industry partners and international law enforcement," said Kristie Cressy, detective superintendent at the Australian Federal Police, Bangkok.
"Scam centres and criminal syndicates prey on victims around the world. We work tirelessly with our international partners to disrupt these groups."
The operation builds on a December 2025 action in which Meta removed more than 59,000 fake and high-risk pages.
"This operation is a testament to how sharing information and coordinating our efforts can make real progress in disrupting this criminal activity at its source," said Chris Sonderby, vice president and deputy general counsel at Meta.
Cheryl Seeto, head of policy for Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands at Meta, said continued cross-border collaboration was critical to protecting people from online fraud and strengthening the integrity of the digital ecosystem.
Meta is also rolling out stronger in-app protections for Australians, including new warnings in Facebook, WhatsApp and Messenger and expanded advertiser verification.
Advertiser verification is being expanded so that 90% of Meta's global ads revenue comes from verified advertisers by the end of 2026, up from 70% currently. The target covers the highest-risk advertiser categories, with the remaining 10% coming from legitimate, low-risk businesses.
Meta is also testing new warnings for suspicious Facebook friend requests, and WhatsApp will now alert users when behavioural signals suggest a linking request may be suspicious.
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