Meta Disables 150K Accounts Linked to Southeast Asia Scam Centers in Global Crackdown

According to Meta, it disabled over 150,000 accounts linked to scam centres in Southeast Asia as part of a coordinated crackdown conducted in partnership with authorities from Thailand, the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Korea, Japan, Singapore, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia. The action followed a pilot scheme in December 2025 that removed 59,000 accounts, Pages and Groups and resulted in six arrest warrants, Meta said.

The disclosure comes as Meta noted it removed more than 159 million scam ads on Facebook and Instagram in 2025 and also took down 10.9 million accounts connected with criminal scam centres. In tandem, the Royal Thai Police reported 21 arrests as part of the operation. The UK Government spoke of a forthcoming online disruption unit backed by over £30 million to identify and shut down organised crime networks, including scam operations, at scale.