WhatsApp has removed 6.8 million scam-linked accounts in a global crackdown, Meta announced. New WhatsApp safety tools are rolling out, including alerts when unknown users add someone to a group. Scams are growing more complex, often using multiple platforms and AI tools to trick users.

Meta is also testing new features that may warn users before they respond to unknown contacts in one-on-one chats.

In the first half of 2025, WhatsApp banned over 6.8 million accounts “linked to scam centres," according to parent company, Meta. “Some of the most prolific sources of scams are criminal scam centres,

Over 6.8 million accounts have been scrubbed off of WhatsApp as part of a crackdown on ‘criminal scam centres’, most of them in South East Asia. Meta is working to target too-good-to-be-true offers and unsolicited texts unleashed to steal people’s personal information or money.

WhatsApp has taken down 6.8 million accounts that were "linked to criminal scam centers" targeting people online around that world, its parent company Meta said this week.