In an era when we spend almost all our time online, "security" has become something that needs to be updated as frequently as fashion trends.
The latest Meta Adversarial Threat Report for the first half of 2025 reveals alarming activity from international criminal groups, especially networks from Cambodia that have significantly increased their sophistication.
These groups no longer just send random messages; they now use automation combined with Deepfake technology to create fake videos closely resembling the faces and voices of celebrities or public figures to lure investments and recruit job seekers. They often impersonate police or government officials to pressure victims and attempt to move conversations to encrypted chat apps to evade detection by main platforms, making it increasingly difficult to distinguish truth from deception.
On the platform side, Meta has also enhanced its defenses with advanced technology. Meta has implemented the Llama Firewall system and the Rule of Two security mechanism to deeply screen suspicious behaviors. They also use Facial Recognition software on over 500,000 public figures worldwide to prevent anyone from using celebrities' images to create fake accounts. This measure has helped reduce scam advertisements globally by up to 22%.
In Thailand alone, the cleanup efforts reached record levels. Meta removed over 7.3 million harmful pieces of content from Facebook and another 15,000 from Instagram. Remarkably, almost all (99%) of this content was detected and removed by AI systems before users even reported it.
This cleanup also included banning more than 90,000 fake accounts across Facebook and Instagram, as well as removing over 18,000 fraudulent sales listings from Marketplace to cut off scams before they reach users.
No matter how advanced the protection systems are, the best defense is our own "awareness." There are three key points to remember:
1. Watch for urgency: If pressured to make quick decisions or if someone claims to be a government official and keeps transferring your call.
2. Beware of Deepfake videos: Look for unnatural mouth movements or lighting anomalies in investment solicitation videos.
3. Do not click on unfamiliar links: Especially links that direct you to conduct transactions on other apps. Pay attention to small irregularities.
Remembering these three points will be the key to helping us live safely and sustainably in the digital world.