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Meta said in November 2024 that it had taken down more than two million accounts associated with scam centers in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines. The company described its broader effort as targeting criminal groups behind pig-butchering and other fraud; it did not say that every account in the two-million-plus figure was used for pig-butchering. A separate July 2026 operation targeted more than 3.6 million prepared shell Pages before they could be used for scams—different assets, counted at a different stage. Meta’s November 2024 statement and its September 2026 Singapore Police update describe those actions.
What “pig-butchering” means
Pig-butchering is a relationship-based investment fraud. A scammer builds trust with someone online, then persuades them to put money into a false investment, often involving cryptocurrency. The name is colloquial; the useful thing to understand is the pattern: personal attention is used to make an investment pitch feel credible.
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FinCEN’s September 2023 alert describes approaches that begin through text messages, social-media direct messages or other communication tools. A contact may claim to have reached the wrong number or to be reconnecting with an old friend. After gaining trust, the person may pose as an investor or money manager and introduce a supposedly lucrative virtual-currency opportunity.
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What Meta’s two-million figure counts
In November 2024, Meta said it had removed over two million accounts linked to scam centers in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines. This is Meta’s own enforcement figure, and its wording is “linked to scam centers,” not “confirmed pig-butchering accounts.” The company framed the action as part of a wider campaign against organized criminal groups running pig-butchering and other scams.
Meta’s post relayed United States Institute of Peace estimates, as of the end of 2023, of up to 300,000 people forced into scamming worldwide and about $64 billion stolen worldwide annually. Those are estimates attributed to USIP by Meta—not counts of people or losses measured by Meta in its account takedown.
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How the later Singapore operation differs
Meta’s September 2026 update described several kinds of enforcement in partnership with the Singapore Police Force (SPF). The figures are not interchangeable: they refer to entities, Pages, accounts or ads, and include scams beyond pig-butchering.
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| Action or figure | What Meta reported | What it does—and does not—mean |
|---|---|---|
| January–June 2026 | More than 113,000 fraud- and scam-connected entities and Pages on Facebook and Instagram; Meta, September 2026. | A broad fraud-and-scam enforcement count, not a pig-butchering-only total. |
| June 2026 | More than 33,600 entities acted against in a seasonal e-commerce-scam operation with SPF; Meta, September 2026. | An e-commerce scam operation, not a pig-butchering count. |
| July 2026 | More than 3.6 million shell Pages; Meta, September 2026. CNA reported 3.64 million. | Prepared Pages that Meta said looked empty and harmless and were stopped before activation. CNA also reported they had not yet been used in scams. They were not millions of proven victim-facing pig-butchering accounts. |
Meta said information shared by SPF led it to act against more than five times the number of assets flagged by police. That is Meta’s characterization of the operation, not an independent audit of the full enforcement count. The Singapore Police Force separately reported action against nearly 3.8 million scam-linked entities and Pages across Facebook and Instagram; its total and Meta’s rounded headline use different descriptions and should not be treated as a like-for-like count of pig-butchering accounts. See the Singapore Police Force release and CNA’s report.
Why some enforcement targets infrastructure, not just messages
Removing a scam message or account responds to activity that is already visible or reported. Disrupting a network can also mean acting on assets prepared for a later campaign, before ordinary users encounter them. The July 2026 shell Pages illustrate that difference: Meta said they had not yet been activated and had no ads or violating content. Their removal was a preventive infrastructure action, not evidence that millions of scams had already been carried out through those Pages.
Information-sharing between police and platforms was central to Meta’s account of the Singapore operation. Meta said information from SPF helped it identify and take action against a larger set of assets. The enforcement figures come from Meta and police statements; the cited accounts do not independently verify every asset or prove what each pre-positioned Page would eventually have been used for.
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- Know when people have seen your messages.
- Forward messages or photos to people who weren't in the conversation.
- Search for people and groups to quickly get back to them.
- Turn on location to let people know when you're nearby.
- See who's available on Messenger and who's active on Facebook.
Scam compounds can involve coerced workers
Meta has described scam compounds where people are recruited through implausibly attractive job offers and then forced to work as online scammers, sometimes under threat of physical abuse. FinCEN likewise cautions that some people contacting victims may themselves be trafficking victims acting under coercion. A message sender’s apparent role in a scam therefore does not, by itself, establish that person’s freedom or culpability; the criminal networks and those directing the fraud remain essential parts of the picture.
Warning signs and practical steps
- An unsolicited online contact gradually turns a personal conversation into investment advice or a crypto opportunity.
- The person encourages you to use a particular website or app they introduced, especially one whose displayed returns are difficult to verify independently.
- You are urged to add more money to unlock a balance, secure profits or withdraw funds.
- You are asked to keep the opportunity private or act quickly rather than seek independent financial advice.
Do not rely on a displayed balance or on assurances from an online acquaintance. Stop sending money, preserve messages and transaction records, and report the account through the platform. If you have already paid, contact your bank, payment provider or cryptocurrency exchange promptly and report the suspected fraud to the relevant law-enforcement or financial-crime authority in your country. Recovery is not guaranteed, and someone who promises to retrieve funds for an advance payment may be attempting a second scam.
Use platform reporting and security features when you encounter suspected fraud. Meta’s broader enforcement reporting says it removed over 159 million scam ads for policy violations in 2025 and that 92% were removed before anyone reported them; those figures are Meta’s own, and refer to ads rather than scam accounts. Meta also said it took down 10.9 million Facebook and Instagram accounts associated with criminal scam centers in 2025. Neither number should be conflated with the 2024 two-million-plus account figure or treated as a count limited to pig-butchering. Details are in Meta’s March 2026 update.
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