WhatsApp dismantled 6.8 million scam-related accounts primarily concentrated in South Asia during the first half of 2025, signaling a significant move against cyber fraud.

A crackdown on criminal activities is underway, bolstered by new protective chat tools aimed at curbing illegal operations. However, the next challenge lies in whether these extensive fraud rings will be fully dismantled or merely adapt to bypass existing safeguards and continue their deceptive practices.

Random Addition of Users’ Numbers

The threat actors were adding users’ phone numbers to WhatsApp group chats, offering lucrative returns from schemes like crypto investments. Many of the removed accounts trace back to organized criminal networks operating in countries such as Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand. Meta, WhatsApp’s parent company, described these scam centers often relying on forced labor for executing online frauds.

Complexity of Operations

The scale of these operations underscores that eradicating them won’t be a straightforward task.

It’s great that they’re taking action on accounts they found to be fraudulent, but I think scammers won’t be deterred by this,” said Suzanne Sando, Lead Analyst of Fraud Management at Javelin Strategy & Research. It’s a significant start in dismantling these larger criminal scam rings, but they’ll find another avenue to reach potential targets.”

Protection Tools in Group Chats

WhatsApp has introduced tools designed to alert users when they are added to group chats by someone not in their contact list. According to Sando, these features could be more effective than simply removing existing scam accounts.

The new controls that give the user visibility into the group they’re being added to is important, especially the ability to leave a group without even entering the chat,” Sando said. By entering a chat, a potential scam victim might be curious about messages and tempted to respond or inadvertently click on a malicious link, but by adding the ability to leave a conversation without even entering it removes those risks.”

Need for Improved ID Verification

The current internal ID verification process could benefit from stronger controls. Sando questions whether better safeguards will prevent bad actors from signing up initially or if legitimate accounts might be co-opted into these scam centers.

Fraud, Fraud Detection, Meta, Scam, Social Media, WhatsApp