Social Media Giant Partners with UK Banks to Combat Fraudulent Activities
In a bid to strengthen its fight against online fraud, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has announced a collaborative effort with two leading banks in the UK. The partnership aims to facilitate the sharing of information between the banks and Meta, enabling the social media giant to detect and take down scamming accounts and coordinated fraud schemes more effectively.
Through its Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange (FIPE), Meta will work closely with UK banks to identify and combat fraudulent activities on its platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The tech has already been tested with multiple lenders in the UK, resulting in the removal of 20,000 accounts linked to a concert ticket scam network targeting individuals in the UK and US.
NatWest and Metro Bank are the first banks to join the initiative, with more expected to follow suit. According to Meta, this collaborative effort has already led to significant progress in tackling online fraud, with thousands of scammer accounts taken down.
Nathaniel Gleicher, Meta’s global head of counter-fraud, emphasized the importance of banks and platforms working together to combat fraud. “By sharing relevant information related to scams, we can train our systems to take action against more scams globally,” he stated.
The move comes as Meta faces increasing pressure from UK banks to do more to prevent scammers from operating on its platforms. In 2022, digital bank Starling, backed by Goldman Sachs, pulled its advertising from Meta’s platforms due to concerns over fraudulent financial advertising.
Meta’s apps have been frequently exploited by scammers, with authorized push payment fraud being a common tactic used to swindle users out of their money. The company has policies in place banning financial fraud promotion, including loan scams and schemes promising high returns.
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