WhatsApp has banned more than 6.8 million accounts in the first half of 2025 as part of a sweeping crackdown on scam networks targeting users across the globe, the company announced on Tuesday.
The Meta-owned messaging platform said the move was part of its ongoing proactive effort to detect and disrupt scam operations, especially those using deceptive tactics in both group and individual chats. The accounts were reportedly linked to criminal scam centres operating in multiple regions, including fraud hubs traced to Cambodia.
“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,” the company stated in a blog post.
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The announcement came alongside the introduction of new safety features designed to give users more context before engaging with unfamiliar contacts, especially when added to group chats or approached in private messages.
A key part of the new safety push is a safety overview tool for group chats. When users are added to a group by someone outside their contact list, the tool displays critical information, such as whether the group creator is in their contacts and whether other members are known along with tips to stay safe.
Notifications from such groups will remain muted by default unless the user chooses to remain, a measure WhatsApp says will reduce surprise invitations into suspicious or malicious groups.
In private chats, the app is testing context prompts to help users assess the legitimacy of messages from unknown numbers, a common tactic scammers use after initiating contact elsewhere online. These prompts aim to encourage users to pause, verify, and think critically before engaging with such messages.
In one of the most notable parts of the crackdown, WhatsApp revealed it had partnered with OpenAI to identify and disrupt a coordinated fraud operation that was using ChatGPT-generated messages as part of an elaborate scam scheme.
According to the company, scammers used generative AI to write convincing opening messages on various platforms and then lured victims into WhatsApp chats, adding that, from there, users were redirected to platforms like Telegram, where the scams escalated into financial fraud.
The schemes included fake micro-tasks for earnings, pyramid-style investment in rental scooters, and cryptocurrency scams that led victims to deposit money under the illusion of quick returns.
“These scams typically followed a pattern, starting with low-risk, low-return activities and escalating to fabricated earnings dashboards and pressure to transfer real funds,” WhatsApp noted.
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The company therefore reminded users of basic scam-avoidance practices like taking time to review any unsolicited messages; questioning requests that urge urgent action and verifying identities of contacts claiming to be friends or family, ideally through another communication channel.
The new contextual safety prompts are designed to reinforce those behaviours, helping users spot red flags before falling victim.
WhatsApp emphasized that the safety features are being rolled out gradually and will evolve based on user feedback and emerging scam tactics.
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