Meta, the company that operates Facebook, announced Wednesday it is working with two of the United Kingdom’s largest banks to create an information-sharing agreement intended to protect consumers from fraud. The effort is an expansion of Meta’s Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange, or FIRE, which has allowed UK banks to share data directly with the social media company to improve the detection and removal of fraudulent accounts and coordinated scams.
The new partnership will involve British lenders NatWest and Metro Bank, which have taken part in early pilots of the technology. Meta reported great success in the pilot, citing the removal of 20,000 accounts from a concert ticket scam network that targeted users in the UK and US with the help of the information that these banks provided. So far, the current partners are NatWest and Metro Bank, but Meta said that more will be partnering with them later.
Nathaniel Gleicher, Meta’s global head of counter-fraud, said the partnership between banks and tech platforms makes all the difference in winning or losing against fraudsters. “We will only defeat these thieves if we work together and share relevant information related to scams,” he said. The head of Meta’s counter-fraud said that banks have unique insights that Meta can draw on while enhancing its fraud-detection systems.
This comes amid intensified pressure on Meta from UK banks to do more to counter fraudsters exploiting its platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Starling, the UK’s first digital bank and backed by Goldman Sachs, was among the first to boycott Meta in the early part of this year when it pulled its ads over fears the platform was not doing enough to curb the fraudulent financial promotions.
Meta had its policies in place to prohibit any form of advancement of financial scams, including loan fraud and unrealistically funded investment schemes. However, all forms of authorized push payment scams—where criminals are able to persuade users to send money remain highly prevalent across its services. The new data-sharing agreement is an important proactive move in addressing such issues and ensuring user safety.
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