What more could Mark Zuckerberg do to protect users from scams.

 

To further combat impersonation, romance, and celebrity scams on Meta platforms, Mark Zuckerberg and Meta could consider the following measures, building on existing efforts like facial recognition and scam reporting tools:

Enhance AI-Driven Detection: Meta is already using AI to detect scam ads and accounts, but they could invest in more advanced machine learning models to identify patterns in romance and impersonation scams, such as unusual messaging behaviors or deepfake content. How about noticing thousands of Orthopedic surgeons in Yemen or Syria? Noticing the thousands of Keanu Reeves. Seeing the thousands of Military Generals. This could include real-time monitoring of private messages for red flags like requests for money, though this must be balanced with privacy concerns. Also use PEOPLE as dear Mark, people are a hundred times faster and more accurate than machines.

Expand Facial Recognition Globally: Meta’s facial recognition trial, started in December 2024, targets celebrity impersonation scams by comparing profile photos with ad content for 50,000 public figures. Expanding this to more users and regions (beyond exclusions like the EU and UK) could catch more scams, provided privacy regulations are addressed. Celebrities should be encouraged to opt in to maximize coverage. Educate lawyers on accepting facial recognition does NOT take away your human rights. The users of Facebook have rights too. Also if someone has paid for verification it is supposed to include impersonation. It does not. That fails.

Improve User Verification Processes:

Introduce stricter verification for accounts claiming to represent public figures or organizations, such as requiring official documentation or multi-factor authentication tied to verified contact details. This could reduce fake celebrity profiles used in romance scams.

Strengthen User Education Campaigns: Meta’s warnings about romance scams, like those issued around Valentine’s Day 2025, are a start. They could scale up interactive tutorials, in-app alerts, and partnerships with organizations like Action Fraud to educate users on spotting scams, especially deepfake-driven fraud or emotional manipulation tactics. Warnings and better, tutorials should be everywhere around Meta. Because scams are exploding on Meta platforms.

Collaborate with Law Enforcement and Banks: Meta’s Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange (FIRE) tool, which removed 30,000 fraudulent ads in Australia and the UK, shows promise. 30,000 ?? We can identify mor than that in a few days.. it is like removing a grain of sand from the beach and expecting a change! Expanding this program to more countries and integrating it with global law enforcement and financial institutions could help track and shut down scam operations faster.

Limit Ad and Messaging Reach for New Accounts: Scammers often use fresh accounts to spam or build trust. Meta could impose restrictions on new accounts’ ability to run ads or message large numbers of users, reducing the scale of “spray and pray” tactics used in romance scams.

Develop Anti-Deepfake Technology: With scammers using deepfake videos and filters to impersonate celebrities, Meta could invest in proprietary detection tools to flag manipulated media in ads, posts, or video calls. There are websites you can go to and put in a picture and it will assess if it is AI. This would counter the growing sophistication of scams, like those reported with AI-generated celebrity images. Sites like https://sightengine.com/detect-ai-generated-images are excellent.

Increase Transparency and Accountability: Meta has faced criticism for not doing enough, as seen in lawsuits from figures like Andrew Forrest. Publicly reporting scam takedown metrics, response times, and victim recovery efforts could rebuild trust. Zuckerberg could also testify in legal proceedings to address accountability concerns directly, rather than settling cases like the $8 billion privacy lawsuit.

Penalise Repeat Offenders: Implement harsher penalties for accounts repeatedly flagged for suspicious activity, such as permanent bans or IP-level restrictions, to deter scammers who create multiple fake profiles.

Crowdsource Scam Reporting: Encourage users to report suspicious profiles or ads more easily through simplified in-app tools This could complement Meta’s automated systems and FIRE program.

Recognise and accept where most scam accounts are coming from (yes they can use VPNs but most don't need to, Meta doesn't notice). West Africa, especially Nigeria is responsible for almost ALL of the celebrity and @ accounts, Generals and oil rig, doctors and more are from Nigeria. (Go see their Telegram and WhatsApp groups and see their organisation, it's massive and very well organised). If we can do this, Meta can. Countries where there is a lot of fakes and fraud.. require strict identity for all accounts and make them ONLY in their own name.

These steps would require balancing user privacy, platform usability, and regulations, especially in regions with strict data laws. While Meta’s current measures—like removing 23,000 scam accounts in Brazil and India or deploying facial recognition—are steps forward, scaling up these efforts and innovating against evolving scam tactics (like deepfakes) could significantly reduce the $31 million in losses reported in UK romance scams alone in 2021 which is less than 5% of actual losses and also has increased massively. It is reported to be £3million a day even just in Europe.

Whoever invented the username account, the @ accounts where you can make 6 add ons to your main account,each with different identities has fuelled scams massively. We see many thousands of them, this method is being used massively BY SCAMMERS. It assist anonymity, in fact encourages it.

In the past ScamHaters United had human contacts at FB and worked closely with them. Then Meta decided to cut off that contact. Citizen Scam Reporters could be vital and beneficial to Meta. Mark Zuckerberg likes his machines. Humans are better. Much better. There are plenty who would be 'Citizen Scam Reporters'

Acknowledge which countries are the main ones in Romance Fraud. (Yes, I know there are many frauds, I am talking Romance Fraud'. This fraud is the biggest crime in the world. It affects all countries in the world and online platforms are scared to tackle it.