Meta—the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp—highlighted the "pig butchering" scam operations based in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, the United Arab Emirates, and the Philippines.

These scams use platforms like Facebook and Instagram, as well as dating, messaging, crypto apps, and emails, to target individuals globally.

The scammers initiate online relationships with their victims to gain their trust before moving conversations to crypto apps or scam websites, where they deceive victims into making fake investments.

Victims are often allowed to make small withdrawals to build a facade of legitimacy. However, once the victims attempt to recover their investments or can no longer deposit more money, the scammers vanish, taking the funds with them.

Moreover, the individuals executing these scams are frequently victims themselves.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, criminal gangs established scam centres in Southeast Asia, enticing unsuspecting job seekers with seemingly attractive job postings on local boards and platforms. These individuals were then coerced into scamming under threats of physical harm.

The US Institute of Peace estimating at least 300,000 people are being forced into scamming or subjected to human rights violations in these scam centres. The financial losses from these scams are estimated at $64 billion in 2023, impacting millions of victims worldwide.

Meta said that it has focused on investigating and disrupting these scam operations for two years and has worked with NGOs, other tech companies like OpenAI, Coinbase, and Match Group, as well as law enforcement in the US and the countries housing these centres.

Writing in its company bog, Meta said: "We hope that sharing our insights will help inform our industry's defences so we can collectively help protect people from criminal scammers."