Meta removes fake Indian and Chinese accounts for phishing

(Representative image)

Facebook parent Meta has said it shut down more than 40 fake accounts that belonged to the Indian firm CyberRoot Risk Advisory on grounds of impersonation and phishing.

In a report published on December 15, Meta said these accounts collected personal data from people in India, Myanmar, India, Taiwan and the US.

More than 900 Chinese accounts operated by an unknown entity were also identified.

"Rather than directly sharing malware on our apps, this group's activity manifested primarily in social engineering and phishing, often intended to trick people into giving up their credentials to various online accounts across the internet," the report read.

Meta said that these fake accounts were set up to impersonate famous celebrities, journalists, executives and other personalities. There were also accounts that impersonated family members of friends.

These accounts were focused on gathering information from political and influential people like lawyers, doctors, journalists, activists and clergymen from countries like Kazakhstan, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Iceland.

"Our investigation identified customers in Bangladesh, Hong Kong, the United States, New Zealand, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Poland, and other countries. In addition to targeting related to law enforcement activities, we also observed frequent targeting of activists, opposition
politicians and government officials in Hong Kong and Mexico," the report said.