Graphic highlighting digital threats | Image by Meta
I remember the days when Facebook was all the rage—yes, I’m that old. Everyone was on Facebook, even my high school teachers. Now, Insta is the norm. My friends are on Insta, my family is on Insta, and chances are you and your loved ones are too. And if you don’t have much time to scroll through reels and posts, you’re likely using WhatsApp as one of your main messaging services, especially if you have plenty of friends who aren't rocking iPhones.
But while all three of these apps allow us to keep in touch with everyone—and also follow various cat pages and occasionally spy on our exes—we can’t ignore the fact that they are crawling with scammers who are willing to go above and beyond to, well, scam us.
In fact, in a newly released blog post, Meta shared that in 2025, it removed more than 159 million scam ads and disabled 10.9 million Facebook and Instagram accounts associated with criminal scam centers. Now, the company is going even further in its crusade, announcing an AI-powered method to fight "celeb-bait" and brand impersonation, alongside three new anti-scam tools for its apps.
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Meta will now use AI to battle "celeb-bait" and brand impersonation scams
Given that AI is everywhere these days, it’s no surprise that Meta is implementing it in its fight against scammers. While traditional detection systems might look at text and images separately, Meta’s AI systems can now analyze “multiple signals” at once, such as images, text, and even context. This allows it to catch advanced scams much faster. For instance, if the system detects that, let’s say, Elon Musk is raising money for a new version of the Tesla Cybertruck, it will understand the intent and flag it as a scam.
AI will now also help Meta detect deceptive links and impersonated domains. This way, when you like something on Amazon while browsing Facebook and tap the link, you’ll be redirected to the official Amazon website—not a copy that a scammer created using ChatGPT and WordPress.
How often do you see scams and fakes on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp?
Facebook will warn about suspicious friend requests
Facebook displaying a friend‑request warning and safety tips. | Image by Meta
Meta is currently testing a way for Facebook to help you determine if an account that sent you a friend request—or one you’ve sent a request to—might be sketchy. The warning will appear if the account shows signs of suspicious activity, if you don’t have many mutual friends, or if the user is located in a different country. You’ll see an alert showing when they joined Facebook, along with other details designed to help you decide whether to accept, reject, or immediately block that profile.
WhatsApp now displays warnings for device-linking scams
A tactic that scammers use on WhatsApp is to trick you into linking your WhatsApp profile to their device. They might try to deceive you into scanning a shady QR code, for instance, to visit a page, but in reality, they will bind your account to one of their devices, stealing all your data in the process.
With the help of its new AI-powered system, Meta will now signal you when it detects a potential account takeover attempt. The signal will display the location of the request and tell you that this may be a scam. This way, you’ll be able to reconsider before you scan the QR code.
Scam detection on Messenger gets rolled out to more countries
Messenger showing a warning for a potential scam in chat | Image by Meta
In October last year, Meta introduced a nifty feature to the Messenger app that shows a warning when a chat with a new contact might be a scam—such as a suspicious job offer. If a conversation triggers the system, it asks if you’d like to send the chat for an AI scam review. If that review confirms a threat, the app suggests specific actions to take, like blocking or reporting the account.
While this tool was initially in limited testing, Meta is rolling it out to more countries this month. Although Meta hasn’t specified the full list of new regions, this expansion suggests the feature is moving toward a global rollout and should be available to everyone in the near future.
Why do these new anti-scam features matter, and what do I think about all this?
We techies who live and breathe tech are usually careful with whom we connect and what links we tap on. However, scammers are getting smarter, and I’m sure you’d agree that there’s no guarantee for anybody. Plus, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp are all used by techies like us and by everyday people who are light years away from knowing what the latest Snapdragon chip is or how to protect themselves from scammers on the web.
That’s why my personal take is that Meta is doing a great job with the introduction of these features, making the day-to-day use of its apps safer for everybody. So, bravo, Meta, bravo!
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Preslav Mladenov is a News and Affiliate Content Writer at PhoneArena who started on his tech journalism journey in December 2021. With persistent knack for finding the best deals out there, he swiftly became a pivotal Affiliate Content Writer, guiding readers towards significant savings on a plethora of gadgets, including smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, Bluetooth speakers, and headphones. Mladenov's deep-seated knowledge of mobile tech, paired with a rich background in sales, empowers him to unearth the finest deals on the web.
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