Meta found a new way to crack down on scam accounts, and it seems to be working

Meta has expanded its Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange, or FIRE, which lets banks communicate more directly with the company about scams.

Deepfake scams have skyrocketed on Facebook in recent years. And the banks dealing with the fallout are not happy about it.

So Meta launched a new program that allows banks to “share intelligence” directly with the social media conglomerate to more efficiently combat scams. Meta announced the new program, called the Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange, or FIRE, on Wednesday.

NatWest and Metro Bank were the first two banks to participate in the pilot in the UK. Meta said in a statement that, based on data shared by the two banks, it has already removed 20,000 accounts it believes were run by scammers.

Meta also unveiled the program in Australia, where it says it has been operating with several banks since January, according to The Guardian. In just the first six months, the program blocked 8,000 different pages and 9,000 celebrity scams, Meta told the outlet.

The statement said that in the UK, the program has already helped take down a “significant concert ticket scam network,” and Meta plans to expand eligibility to more banks in the future.

David Lindberg, NatWest CEO of Retail Banking, said in the statement that the best way to stop scammers is to identify them before they are able to target consumers.

“Partnering with Meta is an important step in tackling the epidemic of fraud,” he said. “We welcome the opportunity to deepen our collaboration and ensure a cross-industry approach to fraud prevention and enforcement.”

Scam operations on Facebook have become a serious problem in recent years. Facebook users encounter scams at a higher frequency than any other social media platform, according to cyber security company F-Secure.

In March, Australian authorities warned of a rise of scammers using fake news articles and deepfake videos to trick victims into believing celebrities are asking them for large sums of money or trying to get them to invest in cryptocurrency.

Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest filed a federal lawsuit against Meta earlier this year, claiming that the company profited from thousands of ads that used deepfake photos of himself to promote scams on Facebook.

Australians have lost up to $8 million to scammers using online investment platform scams this year, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said in the warning.

Meta did not immediately return a request for comment from B-17.