Meta Removes Fraud App Ads in India Following Government Advisory
September 1, 2026 – 9:27 am
Meta Platforms technology company displayed on a mobile device. Credit: gguy via Shutterstock
Meta removed dozens of advertisements for apps that presented themselves as pornography but actually functioned as banking malware, after the Indian government issued an advisory. Reuters then found at least 39 more of these ads still running and reported on Monday that Meta removed them after being asked about them.
The sequence of events is what makes this story notable: a government warning led to some advertisements being removed, while a reporter’s email prompted Meta to take down the rest.
Advertising makes this different from ordinary malware distribution. An app listed in a store still has to be discovered and installed by a user, whereas a paid advertisement is actively delivered to people selected by an advertising system because they are considered likely to engage with it.
The apps themselves were capable of accessing information on users’ phones, capturing one-time passwords and banking PINs, and transferring money from accounts without the owner’s knowledge.
Pornography is also an effective lure for this type of malware for reasons that have little to do with the technology itself. Someone who installs an app they would rather keep private may be less likely to report it immediately, particularly if they are embarrassed about how they encountered it. One-time passwords create another vulnerability because they are now part of the security process used by many banking services. Malware that can read those codes directly from a device can undermine the second factor that is supposed to protect an account if a password has already been compromised.
Meta did not respond to Reuters’ questions. The company removed the flagged advertisements without commenting on the findings, following a pattern in cases involving problematic advertising on its platforms.
India has good reason to be concerned about the issue. The country recorded close to $2.4 billion in losses from cyber fraud during 2025, while mobile banking has become the main way many people access financial services, particularly among newer account holders. India is also Meta’s largest market by users, making gaps in its advertising enforcement more significant than they might be elsewhere. Hundreds of millions of accounts are potentially exposed to whatever the platform’s advertising review systems manage to identify and whatever they miss.
The advertising system is what turns this into a platform problem rather than simply a criminal one. These apps were not being distributed through obscure forums or private networks; they were being promoted through a paid advertising system that Meta operates, moderates, and ultimately makes money from.
Internal projections reported last year also put the issue in financial terms. Meta estimated that scam and banned-goods advertising could account for roughly 10% of its 2024 revenue, or about $16 billion. That figure changes the context around every subsequent enforcement announcement. Removing an advertisement after someone flags it is part of the cost of operating the platform, while the advertisement itself generated revenue for the same company responsible for deciding whether it should be there.
The regulatory response is now moving in a similar direction across several major markets, although governments are using different tools. India has relied on advisories and direct requests to the company, while European authorities