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Meta has formed a data-sharing agreement with two major UK banks to fight scams and safeguard consumers from fraud.
The collaboration with Metro Bank and NatWest, announced on October 2, aims to enhance fraud prevention efforts.
By expanding its Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange (FIRE), Meta will enable UK banks to exchange information directly, improving its ability to detect and eliminate scamming accounts. The company claims the initial pilot already dismantled a major concert ticket fraud scheme targeting the UK and US. Data shared by NatWest, Metro Bank, and Meta during the six-month Stop Scams UK initiative led to the removal of about 20,000 scam accounts from 185 URLs.
“We will only beat these criminals if we work together and share relevant information related to scams,” stated Nathaniel Gleicher, Global Head of Counter-Fraud at Meta.
Meta announced that NatWest and Metro Bank are the first UK banks in this pilot, with more banks expected to join later. The company stated that the expansion has been well-received by banking leaders, the City of London Police, and the National Economic Crime Centre.
Meta’s Facing Pressure to Combat Scammers
Meta is under pressure from UK banks to tackle scams on its platforms, including Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. At the turn of 2021-2022, British digital bank Starling, backed by Goldman Sachs, boycotted Meta and halted advertising, urging the company to eliminate scammers from Facebook and Instagram.
In 2023, Meta signed the online fraud charter, a voluntary agreement between technology firms and the government to tackle fraud. The same year, the Online Safety Act was enacted, mandating social media companies to remove fraudulent ads and allowing Ofcom to impose fines for non-compliance.
Although Meta has policies banning the promotion of financial fraud, including loan scams and schemes promising high returns, scammers frequently exploit its apps to defraud users. A common tactic is authorized push payment (APP) fraud, where criminals impersonate individuals or businesses to convince users to send them money.
Despite the tech sector’s efforts, APP fraud cases rose by 12% in 2023. UK Finance reported that Britons lost £460 million to these scams, with 70% of incidents involving undelivered online orders.
Starting October 7, banks and payment companies must reimburse fraud victims for claims up to £85,000.
