Meta has announced some new measures to protect WhatsApp users from scam activity, including improved insight into group requests, and updated alerts for individual chat requests.
First off, on group messaging. WhatsApp’s rolling out a new safety overview that will be displayed when someone who’s not in your contacts adds you to a new WhatsApp group.
As you can see in this example, you’ll now get an overview of the group’s info before you join, which will also include tips on how to avoid scam activity.
As per WhatsApp:
“From there, you can exit the group without ever having to look at the chat. And if you think you might recognize the group after seeing the safety overview, you can choose to see the chat for more context. Regardless, notifications from the group will be silenced until you mark that you want to stay.”
The up-front alerts about potential scams could be a significant deterrent, prompting more people to think twice before joining such.
WhatsApp’s also testing new approaches to alert people when they get requests from people that they don’t know to chat.
“For example, we’re exploring ways to caution you when you start a chat with someone not in your contacts by showing you additional context about who you’re messaging so you can make an informed decision.”
The added friction could have a significant impact in slowing scam activity, and raising awareness of possible issues within WhatsApp chats.
Which, as WhatsApp usage continues to grow, is an ongoing concern.
On that front, Meta’s also provided some insight into its efforts to combat scam center activity in its apps.
Meta says that scam centers are often operated by organized crime gangs, and use forced labor to initiate large-scale scam activity.
“In the first six months of this year, as part of our ongoing proactive work to protect people from scams, WhatsApp detected and banned over 6.8 million accounts linked to scam centers. Based on our investigative insights into the latest enforcement efforts, we proactively detected and took down accounts before scam centers were able to operationalize them.”
That’s consistent with Meta’s Community Standards Enforcement Reports, which shows that 99% of spam actions were removed from its apps.
Meta’s systems are getting much better at detecting such before it gets through, however this is an ever-evolving problem, with no definitive solution.
As such, Meta needs to continually update its approaches to maintain detection, and ensure that users are protected from scams, as best they can be.
And again, online scams, in general, are growing.
According to new data from Pew Research, 73% of U.S. adults have ever experienced credit card fraud, ransomware and/or online shopping scams.
The FBI’s Internet Crime Report for 2024, meanwhile, indicates that scammers stole a record $16.6 billion from Americans in 2024.
As more and more of our daily activity shifts online, scammers are going to continue to target this element, and as such, it’s important that all platforms implement protection, however they can, to counter such.
These new measures from WhatsApp are another step in this direction.
