Meta has partnered with the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange (AFCX), the primary industry group for the coordination against financial cybercrime, have conducted a pilot for a dedicated scam reporting channel between the Meta and Instagram parent and eligible financial institutions in Australia.

Using the AFCX Intel Loop, the Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange (FIRE) enables banks to share information about known scams directly with Meta. Based on these reports, Meta investigates and then shares aggregated information with the banks that identifies scam trends and content that Meta was able to take down.

Since the start of the FIRE pilot program in April 2024, Meta has removed over 9,000 spam pages and over 8,000 AI-generated celebrity-related scams across Facebook and Instagram. This initiative underscores Meta's responsibility to counter scams that target Australians on their apps and highlights the importance of working with government and industry partners to fight this menace.

Policy Director, Global Threat Disruption at Meta, David Agranovich, said: “Meta has an important responsibility to counter scams that target Australians on our apps. In addition to investing in our own tools and technology we are working with government and industry partners to fight this scourge. Scams often cut across multiple industries, and the AFCX have been an invaluable partner to help identify and take action against scams targeting Australians.”

Managing Director, AFCX, David Pegley, said: “This trial shows sharing and acting on trusted information can help to remove a meaningful volume of scams from social media. The AFCX is pleased to have partnered with Meta in this initiative and welcomes Meta’s continued participation in the Intel Loop.”

The initiative has also garnered support from major financial institutions. General Manager of Group Fraud at CommBank, James Roberts, said: “CommBank welcomes Meta’s collaboration in receiving anti-scam intelligence via the Intel Loop and encourages all industry players to accelerate participation. Big tech, telcos and banks all play a part in helping to protect Australians. By collaborating and sharing intelligence through the Intel Loop, together we can help make Australia less attractive for scammers.”

Head of Customer Protection at ANZ, Shaq Johnson, said: “With scammers operating with more sophistication than ever before, we must work across industries to continue to take the fight to cybercriminals. We are pleased to work with Meta, the AFCX and others in our industry through the Intel Loop, so we can better share timely and actionable data to better help protect Australians and disrupt criminal networks.”

Last year, Meta claims to have invested USD $5 billion in bolstering the safety and security of its platforms globally, and has conducted numerous sweeps and enforcement actions to remove hundreds of thousands of violating ads in the Australian market.