According to the <\/span>FBI\u2019s 2024 Internet Crime Report<\/span><\/a>, people aged 60 and over in the US lost a combined $4.8 billion to fraud in 2024 alone. Criminals use a variety of tactics to gain trust and in certain circumstances compromise people\u2019s online accounts, often with the goal of targeting their close contacts for scams.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This Cybersecurity Awareness Month, as part of our ongoing global anti-scam awareness campaign, we\u2019re sharing the latest trends in scams targeting older adults, new safety tools, and tips for how to spot and avoid scammers online.<\/span><\/p>\n In addition to our ongoing investigations, we partnered with open source researchers at <\/span>Graphika<\/span><\/a> to find and disrupt scams targeting older adults across the Internet. Where these scams showed up on our apps, we took action: blocking scammers\u2019 websites on our platforms and taking down their accounts.\u00a0<\/span> Cross-border criminal networks continue to operate at scale globally and use sophisticated schemes to target people \u2014 including older adults \u2014 across many industries through messaging, dating apps, social media, crypto, and other apps. We continue to look for and block attempts by criminal syndicate-run scam centers to create accounts on our platforms. In the first half of 2025, our expert teams have detected and disrupted about 8 million accounts associated with scam centers across Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, the United Arab Emirates, and the Philippines. In addition, we took action on over 21,000 Pages and accounts pretending to be customer support in an attempt to trick people into sharing their information.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Scammers constantly evolve their tactics to evade detection and rarely, if ever, target one single platform. This makes collaboration with law enforcement and within industries critical in our anti-scam efforts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Meta is joining the <\/span>National Elder Fraud Coordination Center<\/span> <\/a>(NEFCC), a nonprofit that brings together law enforcement, and companies like AARP, Amazon, Capital One, Google, Microsoft, and Walmart to combat fraud targeting older adults. We will be working alongside NEFCC members to combat fraud at the local, state, and national levels, focused on protecting older adults by sharing resources and\u00a0 supporting investigations into large-scale fraud operations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As part of the Tech Against Scams Coalition (TASC), we recently worked with Match Group to disrupt Facebook Groups that claimed to be selling dating accounts to be used for scams. The scammers disguised Facebook Groups as being for \u201cdating support services.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Earlier this month, we co-hosted the \u201c<\/span>Cyber Smart Senior<\/span><\/a>\u201d training in Bangkok, to help equip over 100 Thai seniors and health center staff from 69 public health centers with vital online safety and digital literacy skills, including spotting and avoiding scams. This was held in partnership with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and Public Health Department, the Electronic Transactions Development Agency, the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau of the Royal Thai Police, the National Police Television Station, and Kenan Foundation Asia.<\/span><\/p>\n We\u2019re running timely safety education efforts around the globe with our partners on an ongoing basis. Here are a few recent examples:<\/span><\/p>\n In Europe, we partnered with a number of creators to raise awareness among older adults on how to spot and protect themselves from scams, including <\/span>Amanda Lamb<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>mum_and_a_mic<\/span><\/a> in the UK, <\/span>oliva_sinhache<\/span><\/a> in Spain, and <\/span>M\u0105dra Babcia<\/span><\/a> and the SGH Warsaw School of Economics in Poland.<\/span><\/p>\n In India, we partnered with <\/span>Signboard_wala<\/span><\/a> (a.k.a. guy with a signboard) and multiple comedy creators to drive scam awareness in public spaces using culturally relevant and visually impactful storytelling to highlight Meta\u2019s safety features like Two-Factor Authentication and Block and Report, and to share important digital safety lessons.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As part of our<\/span> continuous efforts<\/span><\/a> to protect people from scammers, we\u2019ll keep sharing regular updates about our work to counter scams more broadly, including safety tips and product updates across our apps.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On WhatsApp, we\u2019re launching warnings <\/b>when you attempt to share your screen with an unknown contact during a video call. We know scammers may pressure their targets to share their screen to trick people into giving away sensitive information including bank details or verification codes. With this new tool we give our users more context to spot and avoid scams.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On Messenger<\/b>, we\u2019re testing more advanced scam detection in chats. When this is enabled and a new contact sends a potentially scammy message, we warn you and give you an option to send recent chat messages for AI scam review. If a potential scam is detected, you will get more information on common scams, and we will suggest actions including blocking or reporting the suspicious account. Learn more <\/span>here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n On Facebook, Messenger, and WhatsApp, <\/b>you can set up<\/span> Passkeys<\/span><\/a> to make it safer to sign in with the same fingerprint, face, or PIN you already use on your mobile device to verify your identity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On <\/b>Facebook<\/b><\/a> and <\/b>Instagram<\/b><\/a>, you can use Security Checkup <\/b>to review your security settings and get recommendations on security actions like updating your password. <\/span>On WhatsApp<\/b>, <\/span>Privacy Checkup<\/span><\/a> guides you through important privacy settings \u2014 like deciding who can add you to groups \u2014 to help you choose the right level of protection, all in one place.<\/span><\/p>\nScams to Watch Out For<\/h2>\n
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Tips for Older Adults: Staying Safe From Common Scams
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Tips for Families to Help Older Adults in Their Lives Stay Safe Online<\/b><\/h2>\n
The <\/span>AARP\u2019s Fraud Watch Network<\/span><\/a> provides resources and regularly hosts online events to help older adults spot and avoid common scams. They can report scams to local police, the <\/span>FTC, <\/span><\/a>or the FBI\u2019s <\/span>Internet Crime Complaint Center<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/em><\/h6>\n
Taking Action Against Scammers<\/b><\/h2>\n
Working With Others to Protect People From Scams<\/h2>\n
Raising Awareness on Online Safety Around the World\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n
Our Latest Anti-Scam Tools\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n
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