“NZ police were involved because it was a cross-border law enforcement operation in which sovereign policing and intelligence organisations were sharing information as that helps develop the full picture,” a Meta spokeswoman said.

“New Zealanders are targets of scams operating out of Southeast Asia in countries such as Myanmar and Cambodia. These are sophisticated, cross-border criminal syndicates.”

NZ police said they were awaiting an update from a liaison in Thailand. The nationalities of the 21 arrested were not immediately known.

New measures

Meta, whose stable includes Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, overnight announced a series of new anti-scam measures.

What happens to the money Meta makes from scammers?

Some scammers buy ads on Meta platforms to drive traffic to their scam pages.

A November 2025 Reuters story, based on leaked information, said the Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp owner projected in 2024 it would earn 10.1% of its overall annual revenue – or some US$16 billion ($28.2b) – from running advertising booked by scammers.

“Unfortunately, the leaked documents present a selective view that distorts Meta’s approach to fraud and scams by focusing on our efforts to assess the scale of the challenge, not the full range of actions we have taken to address the problem,” a Meta spokeswoman told the Herald.

“On 10.1% of ad revenue being generated from violating ads – this number was a rough and overly inclusive estimate rather than a definitive or final figure; in fact, subsequent review revealed that many of these ads weren’t violating at all. The assessment was done to validate our planned integrity investments – including in combating frauds and scams – which we did.”

Whatever the exact figure, what happens to the income generated for Meta from ads booked by scammers?

“It goes to fighting scammers. It goes into developing all of the resourcing and technology that it takes to stop them,” the Meta spokeswoman told the Herald after the Wednesday briefing on the new measures.

Does any of the money go towards compensating victims?

“No,” the Meta spokeswoman said.

There were logistical issues verifying losses.

“We don’t see transactions on our platform, so we only see a very small slice of an overall scam situation,” the Meta spokeswoman said.

“So if a [scam] transaction happens, it usually happens from somebody’s bank account or from somebody’s credit card. We don’t have visibility into that, and that is why working across industries such as banking and telcos is really important, and something that we have been advocating for more of.”

Australia’s big stick

She added that when apparent evidence of a scam was presented to Meta, “There’s no structure put in place at the moment to properly identify whether or not even what they’re showing us if that is real, but that’s where we’re moving to in Australia. The Australian legislation is working towards compensation for victims. But there’s also ongoing discussions about how do we put a structure in place where industry can work together to identify when a real scam has taken place, and it’s a real victim.”

In February last year, Australia’s Federal Parliament introduced tough new measures allowing for fines of up to A$50 million ($60.36m) for social media platforms, banks and telcos which failed to take adequate steps to prevent scams.

What constitutes adequate measures? There has yet to be a test case. So far, no fines have been issued under the Australian legislation’s provisions for civil and criminal penalties.

The New Zealand Government is keeping a “watching brief” on Australia’s move.

A voluntary scam code promoted by the Government this week, developed by industry group NZ Tech, with Meta, Google and TikTok as signatories, carries no penalties.

After a study found New Zealanders lose an estimated $2.3b to scams each year – most perpetrated online – the Government did pressure banks to accelerate efforts to implement confirmation-of-payee (matching account names and numbers on transactions) to make life harder for fraudsters.

Commerce Minister Scott Simpson has also pointed to ongoing work to centralise and co-ordinate anti-scam efforts between various government agencies, social media firms, banks and telcos.

He said this week, “The new voluntary code sets out 38 commitments for platforms to strengthen protections against scams. It covers areas such as blocking and takedowns, reporting systems, advertising safeguards, intelligence sharing, and stronger communication with consumers and law enforcement.”

Verifying the identity of new accounts

Some anti-scam campaigners, including researcher and InternetNZ councillor Dylan Reeve, have complained about what they see as the ease with which a scammer can create a new account and create fresh scam ads after being blocked. In most territories, including NZ, they need only a working email address.

At a Meta online briefing on Wednesday, the Herald asked Meta’s head of global threat disruption, David Agranovich, what steps were taken to verify the identity of someone creating a new account.

“When people create a new account on one of our platforms, users are currently required to register with an email address or a phone number, and then we confirm that that email address or phone number is, in fact, live and used by a person via essentially a two-factor authentication code,” Agranovich said.

“There are additional cases where we might require another level of verification. Examples there would be if someone applies for a Meta-verified subscription – a paid product for creators and businesses – they would be required to provide a government ID or a selfie to prove their identity.

“When accessing certain riskier features, for example, advertising financial services, or if we detect suspicious activity on an account, we may also require the user to further verify their identity.

“And then, if someone’s trying to restore access to a disabled or a high-risk account, or in response to certain regulatory requirements in different regions, or for certain ad types, you might also require that additional verification.”

Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.