Many of the accounts were linked to criminal groups operating in South East Asia, the social media giant said.

This is WhatsApp’s latest effort to tighten the reins on fraud attempts that often start with unsolicited group adds, a tactic used frequently in spammy job scams or cryptocurrency cons.

Meta unveiled that WhatsApp has deleted a staggering 6.8 million accounts that were linked to fraudulent activities in the first half of this year. This move arises as Meta’s