Meta says information shared by the Singapore Police Force (SPF) helped it take action against more than 3.7 million scam-linked accounts, Pages and other entities on Facebook and Instagram in 2026.
The figure covers several enforcement efforts, including more than 113,000 entities and Pages linked to fraud and scams between January and June, over 33,600 entities in a June operation focused on e-commerce scams, and more than 3.6 million dormant “shell Pages” in July.
Police referrals led Meta to wider scam networks
Between January and June 2026, SPF referred more than 20,000 accounts, Pages and pieces of content after identifying signals associated with scams. The examples cited by Meta and SPF included impersonation schemes that used social-media influencers’ identities to promote fictitious investments, as well as advertisements offering concert tickets, food and other goods at unusually low prices.
Meta says its investigators used those referrals to identify connected infrastructure, resulting in action against more than 113,000 entities and Pages—more than five times the number of assets initially flagged. The company describes “action” broadly as removal or restriction, so the total should not be read solely as a count of deleted user accounts. Meta said the content was predominantly connected to investment scams.
A separate enhanced operation during the June school-holiday period targeted misleading prices, fake promotions involving well-known brands, exaggerated product claims and pressure tactics built around urgency or scarcity. Meta reported taking action against more than 33,600 entities through that effort.
More than 3.6 million dormant Pages removed
The largest part of the headline total came from an investigation into “shell Pages”. These Pages can appear empty or harmless because they have not yet carried scam advertisements or other violating content, but Meta says they form ready-made infrastructure that operators can activate later.
Using signals supplied by SPF, Meta’s investigators took action against more than 3.6 million such Pages in July before they were used. The press material gives a more precise figure of over 3.64 million, although Meta’s public Newsroom post rounds this to over 3.6 million.
The removal of unused Pages marks a shift from responding to visible scam advertisements towards disrupting infrastructure before a campaign begins. However, Meta and SPF did not provide a breakdown of where the Pages were operated, how many distinct networks they represented, or how many attempted scams and financial losses the intervention prevented.
Meta reports 65 million scam ads removed in 2026
Meta placed the Singapore collaboration within its wider anti-scam programme. The company says it has removed 65 million scam advertisements from Facebook and Instagram so far in 2026, with 94% removed before a user reported them. These are Meta-reported enforcement figures and have not been independently audited by TTR.
Meta, SPF and Singapore’s National Crime Prevention Council are also running the “One Step Ahead” public-education campaign. Meta says the campaign has reached 1.6 million people in Singapore and encourages users to enable two-factor authentication or passkeys, review WhatsApp linked-device notifications and use local resources such as ScamShield.
SPF said it plans to continue sharing scam signals with Meta and other online service providers. The effectiveness of that approach will depend not only on takedown volume but also on whether disrupted networks can quickly replace their infrastructure across other accounts, platforms and messaging services.
More details are available in Meta’s official Newsroom post.
Source: Joint Meta and Singapore Police Force press material dated 23 September 2026 and Meta’s official Newsroom post. Enforcement and reach figures are claims from Meta and SPF.
