On Wednesday, Meta said it had disabled more than 150,000 accounts linked to scam centers in Southeast Asia This article explores scam centers southeast. . This was part of a coordinated effort with officials from Thailand, the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Korea, Japan, Singapore, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, and Indonesia.
The company said that the Royal Thai Police made 21 arrests as part of the effort. The action is based on a pilot program from December 2025 that led to Meta deleting 59,000 accounts, Pages, and Groups from its platforms and issuing six arrest warrants. "Online scams have gotten a lot more complicated and organized in the last few years. Criminal networks based in Southeast Asia, in countries like Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos, are running what amount to full-scale businesses," Meta said in a statement.
"These actions cause real harm; they ruin lives, break trust, and are meant to go undetected and not cause trouble." Meta also said that it is releasing a number of new tools to protect people when they see signs of a scam. The social media giant said that in 2025, it removed more than 159 million scam ads for breaking its rules.
It also took down 10.9 million accounts on Facebook and Instagram that were linked to criminal scam centers. The company has also said it will expand its advertiser verification efforts to make things more clear and stop bad actors from pretending to be advertisers. The U.K. is moving forward with the development.
The government started a new Online Crime Center to fight cybercrime, especially those that are caused by the rise of scam compounds in Southeast Asia, West Africa, Eastern Europe, India, and China. The center brings together experts from the government, police, intelligence agencies, banks, mobile networks, and big tech companies. Next month, the disruption unit is expected to start working.
It also talks about how to use artificial intelligence (AI) to find new types of fraud, stop suspicious bank transfers more quickly, and use "scam-baiting chatbots" to trick scammers and get information.
The U.K. government said, "With over £30 million in funding, the center will find the accounts, websites, and phone numbers that organized crime groups use and shut them down on a large scale. This will include blocking scam texts, freezing criminal accounts, removing scam social media accounts, and stopping operations at the source."
