Meta announced the launch of new security tools on Facebook, Messenger and WhatsApp aimed at helping users identify and avoid fraud attempts, in a context of growing sophistication of cybercriminals and greater regulatory pressure on large digital platforms.
The measure is part of a comprehensive strategy to reduce the impact of scams based on social engineering, identity theft and misleading offersphenomena that have proliferated on a global scale in social networks and messaging applications.
New alerts and preventive systems on the platforms
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One of the pillars of the roadmap is the strengthening of automated fraud detection systemscapable of identifying signals such as the impersonation of public figures or the dissemination of links that redirect to fraudulent pages that imitate legitimate sites.
In Facebookthe company began testing alerts for suspicious friend requests. When an account shows signs of deceptive behavior—such as the absence of mutual friends or origin from another country—the user will receive a warning to:
- Confirm the request
- Block sender
- Report a possible scam
In WhatsAppthe new measures focus on the multi-device linking system through QR codes. The application will notify you if it detects a potentially suspicious connection attempt, indicating the origin of the request and offering the option to authorize or deny access.
For its part, Messenger will incorporate warnings about potentially fraudulent conversations, especially related to Dubious job offers or financial proposals. Within these notices, the platform will ask if the user wants the artificial intelligence analyze the chat to determine if it is an attempted fraud and facilitate its reporting.
Verification of advertisers and combating misleading advertising
Meta is also expanding its identity verification for advertiserswhich requires companies to demonstrate their history of policy compliance and evaluate whether the type of advertising disseminated could lead to deceptive practices.
The corporate objective is that 90 percent of advertising revenue comes from verified advertisers, while the remaining 10 percent corresponds to companies considered low risk.
At the end of Februarythe company further reported that it would take legal action against fraudulent advertisers in Brazil and China who used the technique of “celebrity bait”consisting of using manipulated images of celebrities to attract victims into fraud schemes.
Magnitude of the problem and international regulatory pressure
According to corporate data, during 2025 Meta removed more than 159 million fraudulent adsin addition to removing 10.9 million accounts on Facebook and Instagram linked to cybercrime networks.
These actions are developed in parallel to a more demanding regulatory environment. In the European Unionhe Digital Services Regulation obliges large platforms to implement risk mitigation systems, improve advertising supervision and guarantee effective notification and removal mechanisms for illicit content.
Advertiser verification and automated detection using artificial intelligence seek to align with these demands of advertising transparency and authenticity of commercial accounts.
Impact in Mexico and digital prevention campaigns
In Mexico, the implementation of tools to prevent digital fraud is linked to the current framework on data protection and telecommunications. The Federal Law on Protection of Personal Data Held by Private Parties establishes obligations for technology companies regarding administrative, technical and physical security measures.
Likewise, the Federal Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law empowers the Federal Telecommunications Institute to promote trust and security in digital services.
From a financial perspective, the National Commission for the Protection and Defense of Users of Financial Services has documented a sustained increase in cyber frauds in 2023 and 2024with a special incidence of impersonation schemes spread on social networks and messaging applications.
In a complementary way, the National guardthrough its Cyber Police, maintains prevention campaigns and reporting channels for these crimes.
The deployment of these tools reflects a double pressure for goal: protect millions of users from increasingly sophisticated scams and respond to regulatory demands to demonstrate greater responsibility in content moderation and advertising transparency.
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