Meta announces a data sharing agreement with several major banks to combat fraud

Facebook owner Meta says it is expanding its data-sharing agreement to work with NatWest and Metro Bank in a bid to help protect people from fraud.

The first of its kind data sharing partnership for financial institutions – the Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange (FIRE) – allows banks to share information directly with Meta so Meta can use it to stop scammers and protect users .

NatWest and Metro Bank are the first UK banks to join this data sharing partnership, with more banks set to join in the coming months.

Meta said data shared by NatWest, Metro and Meta during a six-month pilot led to action being taken against thousands of scammer accounts, with around 20,000 accounts removed based on 185 shared URLs.

Data shared during the initial pilot led to the takedown of a major concert ticket scam network that tried to target people in Britain and the US.

Earlier this year, TSB issued an urgent scam warning to customers after discovering that a third of ads on Meta-owned Facebook Marketplace could be fake.

At the time, the bank called on customers not to make online purchases on Facebook Marketplace, so that they do not become victims.

Some banks have previously gone so far as to describe Facebook Marketplace as the Wild West of scams – the problem is that it doesn’t offer a payment system on its platforms like Amazon and Ebay.

Meta’s global head of anti-fraud, Nathaniel Gleicher, said: ‘This work has already resulted in action being taken against thousands of accounts controlled by fraudsters, demonstrating the importance of banks and platforms working together to tackle this societal problem .

‘We can only defeat these criminals if we work together and share relevant information about scams.

“Financial institutions can share unique information with us, which we can in turn use to train our systems to take action against more scams worldwide.”

Mark Tierney, CEO of Stop Scams UK, said he believes the FIRE program “could become a game changer for reporting fraudulent content”.

What the banks said

David Lindberg, CEO of Retail Banking at NatWest, said: ‘Detecting and stopping fraudsters before they can target customers is the best way to tackle this growing problem.

‘Collaborating with Meta is an important step in tackling the fraud epidemic. We welcome the opportunity to deepen our collaboration and ensure a cross-sector approach to fraud prevention and enforcement.”

Faisal Hussain, chief operating officer at Metro Bank, said: “Scams are an industry-wide problem that requires industry-wide solutions.

“We are inspired by our work with Meta as an example of how we can all work together to protect consumers from faceless online fraudsters.

“By sharing this information, we hope to significantly improve the detection and enforcement of scams, ultimately creating a safer digital environment for everyone.”