Meta, Thai police operation leads to takedown of 150,000 scam accounts, 21 arrests

MANILA, Philippines – Meta announced on Wednesday, March 11, a law enforcement operation it participated in led to the shutdown of 150,000 accounts “involved in or supporting scam center networks.”

The Royal Thai Police Anti-Cyber Scam Center (ACSC) also arrested 21 people for their involvement in scam activities.

It was the second anti-scam operation done by Meta and the ACSC, which engaged in intensive live information sharing back in December 2025. That operation resulted in the arrest of six individuals and the removal of 59,000 accounts, pages, and groups at the time.

In this second operation, Meta, the ACSC, and US law enforcement were part of a wider group of partners. These included participants from the Philippines, the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency, Canada, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and Indonesia, alongside representatives of the LINE messaging application.

Meta said the goal of the operation this time “was to once again share information but also to deepen partnerships, improve collective systems, and strengthen action against the criminal syndicates behind these scams. Throughout the week, partners shared insights that allowed them to connect the dots between disparate pieces of information,” and these helped lead to arrests and account takedowns.

The anti-scam operations of Meta and its law enforcement partners follow intensified global pressure to stamp out online scam centers across Asia.

Chris Sonderby, vice president and deputy general counsel at Meta, said the company was proud to partner with international law enforcement agencies to combat sophisticated scam networks.

“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. Our work to combat scams is never done, and we will continue to invest in technology and partnerships to stay ahead of these adversaries,” Sonderby added.

Meta’s new anti-scam tools

Alongside the anti-scam operation, Meta announced a number of new tools it was launching to help fight fraudulent activity on its services.

These include the rollout of advanced scam detection on Messenger to more countries, Facebook alerts for suspicious friend requests, and warnings when a potential scammer tries to link a legitimate account to a scammer’s WhatsApp. – Rappler.com