（Singapore, 23.09.2026）Meta has taken action against more than 3.7 million accounts, pages and other entities linked to scams this year with intelligence from the Singapore Police Force (SPF), as the technology giant shifts from removing individual fraudulent accounts to dismantling entire scam networks before they can reach potential victims.
The majority involved about 3.64 million “shell pages” on Facebook and Instagram, which appeared empty and harmless but had been created as infrastructure that scammers could later activate for fraudulent campaigns. Meta said the pages contained no advertisements or content that would normally violate its rules, making them more difficult to identify through conventional monitoring.
The discovery was made through an information-sharing partnership between Meta and the Singapore police that has been running for about two years. The collaboration allows police intelligence about suspicious activity to be used by Meta investigators to trace connected accounts, pages and other assets across its platforms.
Meta said the approach marks a move away from taking down fraudulent accounts one at a time towards identifying the broader networks behind them. Information supplied by Singapore police can lead investigators from one suspicious account to other connected assets, allowing entire groups of scam infrastructure to be disrupted.
Between January and June, Meta took action against more than 113,000 entities and pages connected to fraud and scams on Facebook and Instagram after receiving information from the police. Investment scams, which often attract victims with promises of guaranteed or unusually high returns, accounted for much of the content.
Meta said the intelligence provided by SPF eventually resulted in action against more than five times the number of assets originally flagged, as investigators uncovered other accounts and pages connected to the same networks.
Scammers build networks before attacks begin
The scale of the shell-page takedown highlights how scam operations are becoming more organised, with criminals preparing large numbers of accounts and pages before launching their campaigns.
Meta said more than 3.6 million such entities and pages were disrupted in July alone. Unlike an active scam advertisement or fraudulent post, shell pages may initially contain little or no suspicious material, allowing scammers to build up infrastructure that can later be acquired or activated when needed.
The company said scammers are also increasingly using artificial intelligence to operate at an industrial scale. Clara Koh, Meta’s director of public policy for Southeast Asia, said AI is being used to mass-produce fake profiles, create fabricated images and generate malicious code.
E-commerce scams are another focus of the partnership, with Meta and SPF conducting a targeted operation in June ahead of Singapore’s school holidays, a period when families searching for travel deals and other promotions could be more exposed to fraudulent offers.
More than 33,600 entities were acted against during the operation, including those promoting misleading prices, fake promotions involving well-known brands and exaggerated product claims. Some scammers also attempted to pressure consumers into making quick purchases by creating a false sense of urgency or suggesting that products or deals were available only in limited quantities.
Daryl Poon, Meta’s director of law enforcement outreach for Asia-Pacific, said scammers benefit from operating across different platforms, applications and countries because no single organisation has a complete picture of their activities.
Information from the Singapore police can help Meta identify threats that the company might not detect on its own, while Meta’s ability to investigate activity across its platforms allows it to identify and disable connected networks. Poon said the partnership is a model the company hopes to continue developing in Singapore and elsewhere in the region.
The exchange of information has also worked in the other direction, with Meta saying that intelligence it provided to SPF helped police arrest seven men last year over their suspected involvement in a transnational unlawful remote betting operation.
Singapore steps up pressure on online scams
The latest crackdown comes as Singapore increases pressure on technology platforms to take a more proactive role in preventing scams. New requirements introduced last month require designated social media and e-commerce services to put measures in place to disrupt scams and malicious cyber activity.
Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Justin Wong, commander of SPF’s Cyber Command, said sophisticated scam networks cannot be tackled by law enforcement agencies alone because their operations frequently cross-national borders and involve multiple online services.
By sharing scam-related signals with private-sector partners, police can help platforms identify and remove the digital infrastructure supporting criminal networks, potentially cutting off scammers before they are able to reach more victims.
Meta, SPF and Singapore’s National Crime Prevention Council have also been working together on public education through the One Step Ahead campaign, which encourages users to strengthen account security with features such as two-factor authentication and passkeys on Facebook and Instagram.
WhatsApp users are also encouraged to use security tools including Linked Device Notifications, while Singaporeans can turn to ScamShield for information on common scam methods and ways to protect themselves. Meta said the public education campaign has reached about 1.6 million people in Singapore.
With scammers increasingly using AI to create fake profiles and content at scale, Meta said it is continuing to invest in systems designed to identify fraudulent activity earlier. The Singapore partnership is now focused on disrupting the infrastructure behind scam operations before individual accounts and pages are activated, rather than waiting for fraudulent content to appear and victims to report it.
