WhatsApp is enhancing its security features with new tools designed to protect users from scam tactics, particularly within group and individual messaging. The company announced these updates as part of its ongoing efforts to disrupt scam centers and safeguard its vast user base, saying that it took down over 6.8 million WhatsApp accounts linked to criminal scam centres around the world.“In addition to disrupting scam centres, WhatsApp is constantly rolling out new features to help protect people on our apps from known scam tactics at scale,” the company said.
WhatsApp’s new anti-scam tools for group and individual chats
One significant new feature targets group messaging. WhatsApp will now display a safety overview when a user is added to a new group by someone not in their contacts and that they might not recognise. This overview will provide key information about the group and offer tips to stay safe. “From there, you can exit the group without ever having to look at the chat. And if you think you might recognise the group after seeing the safety overview, you can choose to see the chat for more context,” the company said.It is to be noted that notifications from such groups will be silenced by default until the user explicitly indicates they wish to stay.For individual messaging, WhatsApp says that it is continuing to test new approaches to caution users before they engage with unknown contacts. This aims to combat a common scam tactic where fraudsters initiate contact on other platforms before directing victims to private messengers like WhatsApp. The new alerts will provide users with additional context about the sender, helping them to make a more informed decision before starting a chat with someone not in their contacts.
WhatsApp takes down 6.8 million accounts
WhatsApp has also announced a significant crackdown on criminal scam centres, revealing that it banned over 6.8 million accounts linked to these operations in the first six months of this year. These scam centres, often fueled by forced labour and run by organised crime groups primarily in Southeast Asia, are a prolific source of online fraud, the company said.WhatsApp also stated that it was able to detect and take down these accounts before the scam centres could fully operationalise them.
About the Author
