WhatsApp has introduced a new ‘safety overview’ feature that alerts users when someone outside their contacts adds them to a new, potentially unfamiliar group. This update is part of Meta’s efforts to combat scams and fraud on its messaging platform.
The safety overview provides essential details about the group and safety tips.
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“From there, you can leave the group without opening the chat. If you recognize the group after viewing the safety overview, you can choose to view the chat for more context,” WhatsApp explained.
Notifications from the group will be silenced until the user opts to stay.
Meta also plans to show more context about the person when users start a chat with someone who is not in their contacts, helping them make informed decisions.
WhatsApp also actively removes accounts associated with scam operations, often linked to forced labor and organised crime, mainly in Southeast Asia.
In the first half of this year, WhatsApp and Meta security teams identified and banned over 6.8 million accounts connected to scam centers.
“Our investigations have allowed us to detect and deactivate accounts proactively before scam operations can take hold,” they stated.
Recently, WhatsApp, Meta, and OpenAI disrupted a scam network linked to a criminal operation in Cambodia.
These scams included fake payment schemes for likes, recruiting victims for a rent-a-scooter pyramid scheme, and enticing people to invest in cryptocurrency.
According to OpenAI, scammers used ChatGPT to generate initial messages with a link to WhatsApp, then quickly directed targets to Telegram to perform tasks like liking TikTok videos. They tried to build trust by showing fake earnings before asking for cryptocurrency deposits.
