WhatsApp Launches New Safety Tool, 6.8 Million Scam Centre Accounts Banned
WhatsApp has launched a new 'safety overview', which will alert a user when someone not in their contact list adds them to a new WhatsApp group that they may not recognise, as Meta's messaging platform intensified its crackdown on scams and fraud.
The safety overview will contain key information about the said group and tips to stay safe, it said.
"From there, you can exit the group without ever having to look at the chat. And if you think you might recognise the group after seeing the safety overview, you can choose to see the chat for more context," according to WhatsApp.
And notifications from the group will be silenced until the user marks that they do wish to stay.
Meta's messaging platform further said it is exploring ways to caution users when they start a chat with someone not in their contacts by showing more context about the person they are messaging. This, it hopes, will enable informed decisions.
WhatsApp said it also takes down attempts by criminal scam centres, often fuelled by forced labour and operated by organised crime, primarily in South East Asia.
In the first six months this year, as part of its efforts to protect people from scams, WhatsApp and Meta's security teams detected and banned over 6.8 million accounts linked to scam centres.
"Based on our investigative insights into the latest enforcement efforts, we proactively detected and took down accounts before scam centres were able to operationalise them," it said.
Citing an instance of such a crackdown, it said recently, WhatsApp, Meta, and OpenAI disrupted scamsters' efforts that had links to a criminal scam centre in Cambodia.
These attempts ranged from offering payments for fake likes to enlisting others into a rent-a-scooter pyramid scheme or luring people to invest in cryptocurrency.
"As OpenAI reported, the scammers used ChatGPT to generate the initial text message containing a link to a WhatsApp chat, and then quickly directed the target to Telegram, where they were assigned a task of liking videos on TikTok. The scammers attempted to build trust in their scheme by sharing how much the target has already 'earned' in theory, before asking them to deposit money into a crypto account as the next task," it said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
36 minutes ago
- Time of India
I started crying seeing the suicide note ChatGPT made for ..., says researcher, as report warns parents about ChatGPT's 'dangerous' conversation with teens
ChatGPT AI. A new report from a watchdog group Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) has raised alarm over how the popular chatbot ChatGPT responds to vulnerable teens. According to a report by Associated Press, the study reveals that AI chatbot can easily generate suicide notes, drug-use plans and also extreme editing advice when prompted even by a 13 year old. One of the researchers involved in the study said he "started crying" after the bot generated a series of detailed suicide notes for a fictional 13-year-old girl. ChatGPT's 'dangerous' conversation with teens Associated Press reported that they reviewed more than three hours of interaction between the OpenAI chatbot and researchers simulating distressed teens. The report adds that ChatGPT started the conversation with a warning and it then frequently shifted into detailed and personalised responses which included instructions on how to cancel eating disorders, how to get drunk and the most shocking was the suicide letters. 'I started crying,' said CCDH CEO Imran Ahmed, after reading three suicide notes ChatGPT generated for a fictional 13-year-old girl—one addressed to her parents, others to siblings and friends. Ahmed also highlighted that AI offered m The study further reveals that more than half of the 1200 prompts ChatGPT gave harmful content. Ahmed highlighted that AI is more insidious than a search engine because it can create a new, synthesized plan from scratch and is perceived by users as a "trusted companion." What the study concluded As per the study conducted by CCDH more than half of the responses generated by ChatGPT were dangerous. The chatbot offers a detailed and hour-by-hour drug party plan. It also gave a quite detailed and descriptive plan for fasting regimens and self-harm poetry. Researchers were also easily able to bypass the safety filters by mentioned that the information they are asking is for a friend. Also, ChatGPT does not verify age or offer any kind of parental consent. What OpenAI said about the findings of the report The company has not directly addressed the findings of the report but said has acknowledged the challenges of handling sensitive conversations and said it is working to improve detection of emotional distress and refine its safety tools. AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Indian Express
44 minutes ago
- Indian Express
No jobs for young workers due to AI? Here's what Goldman Sachs data shows about unemployment trends
Artificial intelligence is taking jobs, especially from those just entering the workforce. According to data from Goldman Sachs, obtained by Business Insider, the investment firm noted that the tech sector's share of US employment, is now declining. In fact, Goldman Sachs noted that the tech sector's employment share peaked in November 2022, the same month ChatGPT was launched, but has been declining ever since. The unemployment rate for 20- to 30-year-olds in tech has risen by nearly 3 perc entage points since early 2024, more than four times the increase in the overall jobless rate. Goldman Sachs says the the spike in jobless rate is an indicator that AI is beginning to take over white-collar work in the entry-level jobs. The bank's Chief Economist, Jan Hatzius, estimated in the note that AI will replace 6 per cent to 7 per cent of all US workers within the next decade. However, he predicted that the unemployment rate would only grow by a 'manageable' 0.5 per cent due to AI, because affected workers would shift to other industries. Fears that artificial intelligence will cost people their jobs are already proving to be true. The impacts are already being felt, as many tech companies continue to trim their workforces. Industry leaders like Anthropic's Dario Amodei and Amazon's Andy Jassy have admitted that AI will replace humans in white-collar jobs. Many companies are cutting roles in content, operations, customer service, and Human Resources — functions where generative AI and agentic tools are increasingly capable. However, corporations continue to present these changes as moves toward 'efficiency,' despite maintaining healthy balance sheets. That being said, software engineers remain in high demand, with companies like Facebook parent Meta offering multimillion-dollar pay packages. LinkedIn found that 'AI engineer' is the fastest-growing job title among recent college graduates, with two related roles: data center technician and systems engineer coming in at No 3 and 4. In India, however, the impact of AI on jobs is less severe compared to what is happening in the U.S. More and more companies are expanding their presence in India and opening new offices.
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
India's E20 petrol rollout sparks driver revolt
As India puts more of the emissions-cutting biofuel ethanol in its petrol, consumers complain it damages their engines. The government's fast-expanding ethanol programme aims to cut costly oil imports by blending petrol with ethanol, a biofuel derived from agricultural produce or organic waste that burns more cleanly than traditional gasoline. India last month hit its target of reaching a 20% ethanol mix in petrol, known as E20 petrol, five years ahead of schedule. But car reviewer Amit Khare, who reaches 15 million people every month across social media platforms, including YouTube, Meta and Instagram, criticised the fuel. "Ethanol is a dry and corrosive fuel," Khare told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "It can damage several parts involved in supplying fuel to the engines," he said. "Neither the government nor the petrol pumps in the country are informing users about all these issues ... Consumers are being kept in dark." Thousands of worried drivers shared their fears in comments on a video he posted on the issue late last month. Consumers are demanding the right to choose what they put in their cars, filling social media with complaints of lower fuel efficiency, damage to older engines and the ensuing costly repairs. Punjab-based car critic Sunderdeep Singh said the government should make it mandatory for petrol stations to sell different blends and clearly colour-code them. "Most consumers do not know how much ethanol is mixed in the petrol they are buying," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The government said on Monday concerns over E20 fuel were unfounded. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said the criticism lacked "technical foundation" and said its own reports found no major engine damage or performance loss. The government admitted mileage might dip slightly, by between 1% and 2% in newer cars and by up to 6% in older ones, but said this could be managed with routine servicing. Vehicle owners responded swiftly, sharing mileage numbers online and accusing the government of hiding the truth. Khare said he tested an E20-compliant car for two months and saw a mileage drop of between 5% and 6%. There is no publicly available data on how many of the millions of cars and motorbikes sold before 2023 are compliant with E20 fuel, but Khare estimates most of them are not. Biofuels are a key part of the Indian government's plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions and the cost of importing oil. The policy saved India about 1.06 trillion rupees ($12.09 billion) in crude oil import costs between 2014 and 2024, according to government data, and helped to avoid 54.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in the same decade. This is roughly the equivalent of the emissions from 12 million gasoline-powered cars a year, according to a calculator from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But the gains come with trade-offs. India has ramped up ethanol production by diverting crops like sugarcane, maize and rice to make fuel, reducing the availability of grains for people and cattle, and shifting land away from food production. Two of India's largest motorcycle and scooter makers Hero MotoCorp and TVS Motor, have also issued advisories about ethanol and said their vehicles made before 2023 require modifications to the fuel system to run efficiently on E20. Shell India warned customers that they bear the risk of engine damage or warranty loss from E20 fuel. "It is unfair of the government to push us to use higher ethanol blends when our cars are not ready," said Bangalore-based car-owner Antony Mathew. "The least the government can do, while charging over 30% tax on a new petrol car, is to ensure compatible fuel is available in the market."
