By cryptoadmin 
Suppose you may need met somebody “enticing, single and profitable” on Fb or Instagram? You would possibly need to assume once more, Meta says. Forward of Valentine’s Day, the corporate is as soon as once more warning customers to not fall for love scams.
These sorts of schemes, during which scammers create fictitious identities to type on-line relationships with unsuspecting victims, aren’t precisely new. (The FTC says that folks misplaced greater than a half billion {dollars} to romance scams in 2021.) However the folks behind these scams are apparently persistent. Meta says that already in 2025 it’s taken down greater than 116,000 accounts and pages throughout Fb and Instagram that had been linked to romance scams. In 2024, it eliminated greater than 408,000 such accounts.
In keeping with Meta, these rip-off accounts typically originate in West African international locations with scammers impersonating members of the US army or well-known celebrities. In each instances, they’ll declare to be “on the lookout for love” and can strike up conversations with folks on Fb, Instagram and WhatsApp in addition to different messaging platforms. Finally, the scammer will request present playing cards, crypto, or different kinds of funds.
Meta has taken steps to combat most of these schemes. The corporate stated final 12 months it could deliver again facial recognition tech to handle movie star impersonation. It additionally works with different corporations to close down organized teams of scammers. Nonetheless, David Agranovich, director of risk disruption at Meta, famous that "scammers evolve persistently."
Researchers additionally say that AI has made it even simpler for scammers to imagine convincing fictitious identities. “Within the final three or 4 months, there's a few completely different instruments which have come out the place they're free, they're accessible, they're simple to make use of, they usually permit the attacker to remodel their face dynamically inside the video name,” Rachel Tobac CEO of SocialProof Safety stated throughout a name with reporters. “They will additionally use these deepfake bots that assist you to construct a persona, place telephone calls, use a voice clone and a human truly doesn't even should be concerned.”
This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-warns-users-not-to-fall-for-romance-scammers-posing-as-celebrities-or-military-140031858.html?src=rss